919: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
by Reborn Dark Phoenix
Summary: Temporarily on Hiatus until further notice. See most recent update.
1. Assemble! Part 1

Prologue

* * *

I am Uatu, the Watcher.

It is my duty to observe, but never interfere, with the course of all existence on Earth, as it is for my brethren across the universe and multiverse. I am to simply watch events unfold, but I have already broken my vow of non-interference on a small number of occasions. I have taken a…likeness to the Earth.

But today, an event of catastrophic proportions rises in the human city of New York. A madman makes a stand for power, and to rule mankind. I ponder if I should intervene here as well, but I soon see that there is no need for me to do so.

For today…is a day unlike any other the Earth has seen.

* * *

Chapter 1: Assemble Part 1

* * *

***The Raft, 1 of 6 SHIELD superhuman prisons located worldwide, New York City***

**14:33 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"This is a very big mistake you are making, General Ross," said a man of his mid-thirties wearing a crisp formal suit, his firearm hidden underneath, as he followed an older man, in his mid-fifties but still in good shape, wearing US Army general attire, with the name "Ross" on his tag under his medals. "What you are hoping to do it going to backfire on you completely, I guarantee it. Director Fury has made it very clear that he is against you having custody of the man, and after the last incident with the US Army in Culver University-"

"Agent Coulson," the general snapped as he turned around, looking at the man, clearly out of patience. "No matter how much you try to convince me otherwise, I am not changing my mind. The Hulk's blood is property of the United States military, as is Banner's work. I don't care what you or Fury or SHIELD thinks on the matter-the World Security Council OK'd the request that we retake custody, so you can cancel your little plans to transfer him to the Cube. I am taking him, and that is final." General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross then got into the SHIELD agent's face and snarled, "End of discussion."

Phil Coulson, ever keeping his cool, simply maintained his passive expression. "Experimenting on the Hulk, his gamma energy and on his blood is very dangerous," he said. "You've seen what's in the Cube, the psychopaths that have been created by gamma exposure-Captain Zolandia, Leader, Madman, Half-Life and others…some of which, I should remind you, are results of your previous failed attempts to weaponize Dr. Banner's Hulk formula."

"Simple mistakes," Ross retorted.

"In which numerous people lost their lives," Coulson countered, before adding, "Each being a case in which there would have been possibly more casualties had it not been **for** the Hulk."

"The Hulk is a monster, Agent Coulson," the general replied, turning away to continue his brisk walk to the Raft prison transfer dock, where US military &amp; SHIELD personnel were waiting. "A monster that threatens lives, but the military potential locked in the Hulk's DNA is something that the American Armed Forces is not going to just throw away."

"I fail to understand why the United States would want such kind of power, knowing full well that there are many enemies of the nation out there that would see this as a very big threat. It's bad enough that you still have Project: Rebirth up and running."

"Well, if you and Fury and SHIELD didn't hog Captain America to yourselves, we wouldn't have a reason to keep it running."

"Captain Rogers is a man who fights for freedom and liberty, no matter where in the world it is found. If you feel a certain way about it, you're telling the wrong person."

"Captain America should be helping us further our national interests and security. America is looking to build the next generation of soldiers-the super soldier. The Super Soldier Serum is the one thing that can guarantee that, and with the Captain working with you instead of us like a true American soldier, that is very difficult to continue, so we use Project: Rebirth, and the Hulk serum is also beneficial."

"Making your own private army of super-soldiers…sounds like the premise of a comic series."

"Think what you want, but this is final: I'm taking the Hulk, and that's final."

"So what do I tell Betty?"

This grabbed Ross' attention instantly. "What?"

"Betty Ross, your daughter? She's been visiting Dr. Banner here for the last few days since he arrived on the Raft. She's currently staying in New York, and she is scheduled to arrive for another visit any minute now. Would you like to speak to her instead when she comes and finds out you're taking him away again?" They arrived at the transfer area, where SHIELD transfer ship was waiting, five squadrons of US Army personnel and three Hulkbuster battalions stood waiting. A few miles out, in between the distance of the Raft and the coasts of New York City of the East River, a US Navy cargo ship was waiting for its load.

"Betty…she's confused," Ross said, saluting his men as they gave him the proper respected salutes. "She thinks that it's never the Hulk's fault…but she doesn't know better; she still believes that there is a way for the Hulk to do some good for mankind, and that it's not being a guinea pig for our boys in the labs."

"Smart woman," Coulson smirked. Before Ross could retaliate…

"Agent Coulson!"

The two men turned to see a woman in her mid-thirties, with brunette hair and wearing a white sweater and black jeans, running up to them, with three SHIELD agents not far behind. "We tried to stop her, Agent Coulson," one shouted as she and the SHIELD agents caught up to Coulson and Ross. "But she insisted-!"

"It's alright, agents," Coulson reassured. "Ms. Ross, I can only assume you found out what's going on today?"

"Yes I did," Betty Ross replied before turning to her father. "Why, Dad? Why must you always ruin everything? Can't you just leave him alone?!"

"No, Betty," Ross replied. "This is my job, and not you or Coulson here or anyone else will change this."

Before Betty could reply, a voice on the intercom system yelled out, "Prisoner Transfer in progress!" At that, two large metal gates that served as entry points from the transfer dock to the rest of the prison opened, revealing a large mobile prisoner holding pen, accompanied by several SHIELD agents and several Hulkbusters. On each side, there was a sizeable viewing glass, and Coulson and Betty could easily see the man in his mid-thirties inside, his unkempt brown hair and slender but fit figure clothed in orange prison clothes. At this, Betty gasped and bit back a sob.

Dr. Bruce Banner, also known as the Incredible Hulk, looked at them, and tried to give Betty a smile.

"Is he sedated?!" Ross yelled out to his men.

"Yessir," one replied. "He's not turning into the Hulk anytime soon."

"Perfect; ok, men, let's get him onto the _Minneapolis_ and head down to DC. From there, we're off to Gamma Researcher &amp; Air Base; and make such he gets sedated hourly." Ross started walking off to the transport, mumbling, "Last thing we need is for him to get angry on the ride."

"A bit late for that, General," Coulson smirked, causing the general to turn to him. "Banner…he's always angry; he's just learned to control it."

* * *

***Embassy of Wakanda, New York City***

**14:38 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

King T'Challa took a sip of his herbal tea, and took another look at the man before him. He had to be honest; this American bored him to death. It reminded him of the reason why he, his father, his grandfather and all the other Black Panther kings before him had preferred to keep Wakanda in constant isolation from the rest of the world. Most foreigners were simply greedy and selfish, and Wakanda had many resources that the rest of the world, including the American government, would love to get their hands on, namely the Vibranium his people so closely guarded. It had benefited Wakanda for millennia, and the nation had prospered and advanced beyond imagination. Of course, America would want to enjoy some of those benefits…and more so the military properties of Vibranium.

"As I said earlier," the man continued, "the American government is willing to trade whatever it is you desire for a supply of Vibranium. Weapons, vehicles, medicine, Sentinels, oil, energy, you name it. We are also willing to deliver a very suitable price if your Majesty so desires, instead. Just name your price and I'm sure a deal can be-"

"Mr. Gyrich," T'Challa interrupted, setting his tea down and looking the US ambassador-potential in the eye. "My people have no need of any of the things you have just mentioned and wish to offer to Wakanda in exchange for Vibranium. We are a self-sufficient people, and we are very capable, thank you very much. As I have said to various other heads of state and their representatives, we are not interested in giving the world access to Vibranium, and that goes for the United States as well."

"Your Majesty," Henry Peter Gyrich continued, not ready to surrender this battle. "You're missing out on an opportunity to create a whole new global market here. The United States can help you with-"

"My decision is final," T'Challa said, standing up. "There is no deal, end of story."

"You can't do that!" Gyrich snapped.

"I don't see why not," the Wakandan monarch retorted, raising an eyebrow. "The Vibranium belongs to Wakanda, so I think I can." He then motioned to his guards. "Please see Mr. Gyrich to the exit," he said, and with that, the guards escorted Gyrich out of the Wakandan Embassy. Once the door to the conference balcony shut, T'Challa sighed, picking up his herbal tea and walking to the railing; watching the traffic on the busy streets of Manhattan below, he heard the door open again.

"I trust my King remained firm in his standing?" an elderly voice mused. T'Challa smirked and turned to see the Wakandan Royal Advisor/Shaman standing a few feet behind him, his staff in hand and his traditional Wakandan headwear on. "T'Challa," the elderly man continued, "perhaps it is time to return to Wakanda; these outsiders truly have wasted enough of your time, and with war with the White Gorilla tribes looming close, your duties as King must-"

"My father always believed that the outside world had nothing to offer," T'Challa interrupted, pulling out the Panther mask that he inherited by birthright. "He believed that the world outside of Wakanda would never give anything of value to our people. Do you know he was wrong?"

"My King?"

"It has given me…perspective…experience," the monarch continued as he pulled the mask over his face, never taking his gaze off the streets below. "It has given me a new way to see the world…and sometimes I wonder…why do they suffer and do nothing about it? Was it wise for me to end Wakanda's isolation, so it could be exposed to this? Or…can Wakanda maybe show the rest of the world how to finally find peace and prosperity?"

"That is something you must answer with your actions, my-oh…" the elderly man said suddenly, his hand going for his head as he rubbed it.

"My old friend," T'Challa said as he instantly went for his aide. "What is it?"

"I sense…very dark magic energy in the city…something…or someone is preparing to invoke powerful magics…"

"Could it not be the Sorcerer Supreme?"

"No, my King, not from this distance; the Sorcerer's magics have never reached this level of distance from Haiti unless there be dire circumstances…this is…different…"

* * *

***Stark Tower, New York City***

**14:38 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Tony, are you up here?" a beautiful redheaded woman in her late thirties called out as she climbed up the stairs, searching for her boss/lover. Virginia "Pepper" Potts easily guessed that if Tony Stark wasn't anywhere else in the tower that was the headquarters of Stark Industries, he'd definitely be up here, in his armory/workshop. Tony had said he was working on another suit these last few months, and he seemed pretty excited about this one. He had taken to spending nights in his workshop, sometimes pulling off all-nighters, not only pissing off the Board when he fell asleep in the meetings, but pissing her off too due to the fact that she could start feeling quite lonely in their bed. "JARVIS, is Tony up here?" she asked Stark's AI butler as she neared the top of the stairs.

'Yes he is, Miss Potts,' a British accented synthetic voice replied. 'However, I would advise you to avoid the top of the stairs for a few moments."

Pepper arched her eyebrows in confusion. "Why?"

**SCREAOOWWWWMMM! BOOOMMM!**

'That is why, Miss Potts,' JARVIS replied as Pepper stood back up straight from instinctively crouching down. At the top of the stairs, where a highly thick wall had been, only a gaping and smoking hole remained, courtesy of a repulsor blast; upon reaching the top of the stairs, Pepper saw that the glass doors to Tony's workshop were also shattered, and she could see the billionaire whooping for joy, a black and yellow armored gauntlet covering his left hand. At this sight, Pepper smirked affectionately.

"I take it the Mark 22 works?" Pepper chuckled as she sauntered over to where Stark was standing.

"Best model yet," the man in his very early forties smirked as he took her into his hand &amp; gauntlet and softly kissed her. "Standard armor capabilities, extra features from other armors and-my personal favorite feature-it can come to me at will, thanks to these new microchip implants. Wanna see it in action? I need to give it a test run anyways and-"

"Do that later," the redhead pouted. "I haven't seen you all day. We need to catch up some…"

"But…the armor…"

"Well, if you don't want to spend a while with me, you can go to that board meeting that starts in…I don't know, 30 minutes ago?" There was no board meeting today, but it caught Stark's mind, alright.

"JARVIS," Stark smirked. "Cancel all my appointments and make sure no one interrupts me and Pepper for the next…let's make it three hours, m'kay?"

'Sir, my sensors are detecting some kind of energy fluctuation in the city,' JARVIS stated.

"Does it involve the Arc Reactor?"

'No, sir.'

"Then someone else can handle it."

* * *

***Upper West Side, Manhattan***

**14:38 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

She was disgusted by the mortals of this world. They were all so pathetic, so weak, and they were such vile and filthy creatures. Nothing comparable to the Pantheon that sat in Odin's Palace in the Halls of Asgard. Nothing like Odin All Father or Frigga or Balder, Heimdall, the accursed War Goddess and Thor… her beloved Thor…no…she would not think of that oaf, he who had chosen _her _over her own beauty.

She smirked to herself; she would derive a bit of personal pleasure from this invasion, after all.

Disguising her true form with a spell, her blonde hair held up in a ponytail with skintight blue jeans and green jacket, she was still a lovely woman, and many men turned their heads to capture her delicious form-only to turn away in fear from the muscular bald man that accompanied her as she walked slowly through the streets. He was heavily built, like a pro-wrestler or body builder and he had an expression that gave the impression that he could easily kill one of these pathetic humans, adorning his mustache and goatee face. He wore a black light jacket and dark colored pants and boots, and walked with the blonde woman in a subtly protective motion. He easily intimidated everyone that passed them or the both of them passed.

These mortals, she mused to herself. They do not suspect that today marks the end of all they know…and the beginning of the reign of the Trickster.

The two individuals suddenly stopped walking, causing an immediate reaction: they stopped right in the middle of a busy street crossing and their stopping forced a few vehicles to stop abruptly. In anger and confusion, they began honking their horns and shouting in anger, yelling at them to get out of the way, not knowing at all just who-or what-they were dealing with. The passersby and nearby folks also didn't fully comprehend what was going on. Even the three nearby cops didn't suspect a thing as they approached the two of them-to them this was just their regular boring beat getting some kind of small action.

"Sir, ma'am," one of them said with authority as he approached them. "I'm going have to ask you to –AACCKKKK!" Everyone started screaming in shock as the large man grabbed the officer by the throat, nearly squeezing the life out of him, and hoisted him up in the air. He ignored the frantic yells of his fellow cops as they took out their firearms and pointed them at him, ordering him to let their comrade go.

"You do not interrupt us," he snarled as he threw the officer across the street, right into the window of a nearby deli, making everyone scream even more. Two shots rang out as the other cops shot him, only to be horrified that they did nothing to him at all.

"_Amora…it is time to begin."_

"Very well, Loki," Amora the Enchantress smirked viciously as her hands suddenly began glowing with green magical energy. Shooting her hands to the sky, the energy blasts flew into the skies, erupting into various bursts as they cascaded all across the island of Manhattan, landing with powerful crashes as they did so. Everywhere in Manhattan, people started screaming in a panic and in fear and in worry as green energy balls crashed left and right. But it didn't stop there.

They would wish it stopped there.

Where each ball of energy crashed, a portal was created. Rather large portals to be precise; and from these portals, blue skinned &amp; red-eyed creatures arose…by the dozens. Each of them were equipped with various ice carved weapons-swords, spears, axes, shields, maces…each of the wielders stood about three times the size of normal human beings, and were adorned with white colored tattoo-like markings across their entire bodies. They were clothed with heavy animal fur skins, and as they came out of the portals, they brought with them winds of temperatures of freezing cold proportions. They unleashed vicious war cries and brandishing their weapons, they began their invasion.

These were the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, one of the Nine Realms of the cosmos.

"ARISE, FROST GIANTS OF JOTUNHEIM!" Enchantress yelled out as she reverted herself and her male companion to her true form. "ARISE AND STRIKE AT THIS WORLD! TAKE THE MORTALS BY STORM! FOR TODAY, MIDGARD FALLS UNDER THE MIGHT OF LOKI!"\

As she said this, her modern attire was quickly replaced by a fantasy style all green dress that ended just a few inches above her knees, the rest of her legs covered by green leggings and covered at the bottom with green boots. Her top consisted of a rather revealing bustier, showing an ample amount of delicious cleavage; her arms were adorned with green gauntlet like gloves that went above her elbows and ended just at her fingers, while her hair was crowned with a green tiara crown.

Meanwhile her associate was instantly changed as well, from his jacket and jeans to a more fantasy-medieval type look. He wore grey chainmail fatigues, along with black metal shoulder pads and chest armor, with a dark red axe insignia on the front. A warrior armor kilt adorned his belts and his feet were covered with armored battle boots. In his hands, a monstrous axe, capable of slicing through almost anything manmade and able to used elemental attacks, glistened in the light of the energy bursts of the Enchantress. He looked like a medieval executioner, which was fitting being his name was Skurge the Executioner.

He joined his Enchantress as from a nearby portal, another group of 15 Frost Giants arrived, and among them, one stood out in particular. He was slightly larger and he had an air of dominance about him, as if he screamed authority and demanded obedience from his fellow giants. He looked at the Enchantress and Executioner and gave a sinister sneer, relishing the screams the mortals around him gave.

"Ymir of the Frost Giants," Amora said with an evil smile. "Welcome to the realm of Midgard."

And with that, the king of the Frost Giants gave an echoing and earth shattering roar.

About a block away, a blonde woman in her late 20s had yet to join in with the other humans running away in sheer terror. Instead, she sighed and allowed her eyes to begin glowing as her shirt, jacket, jeans and boots began morphing into a red &amp; blue costume as Ymir unleashed another powerful roar.

"I can never have a normal day, I swear to God…"

* * *

***Some random bar, Lower East Side***

**14:39 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Another round."

The bartender stood them in shock as the man before her placed the cup onto the counter with a thud. "That…that'd make it your 50th one this last hour!" she sputtered.

The 6'3'' man looked at her with a deadpan expression. "I don' see the problem here…" he replied, scratching his bushy sideburns as he puffed his cigar. He was wearing light &amp; flexible black leather/body armor attire with fingerless gloves on his hands. The attire also had small yellow lines running across it, forming an X along the front and the back of his top, with another X insignia on his belt line.

"You're not drunk!" the bartender exclaimed, still shocked by the spectacle before her.

Before the man in black could respond, however, the streets outside shook powerfully as a few green bursts of energy crashed into the middle of the street, sending cars flying and people in a screaming panic frenzy. The bartender, the man and the other patrons looked out the window just in time to see the giant blue skinned creatures arise from portals made by the energy fallout. With roars, they began attacking anything and everything in sight. The people in the bar soon began screaming in fear.

...all except for the man in black.

"S'gonna be one o' THOSE days, ain' it?" he sighed. He really regretted not going back to San Francisco with the rest of the X-Men. He chugged his final glass and got up, placing a $50 bill on the counter, and the bartender, still recovering from the shock of the events outside, gasped even more as from the man's hands ejected six metallic claws, three on each hand. "S'cuse me, ma'am." With that, he walked out the bar to confront these creatures.

* * *

***The Peak, orbital space HQ of SWORD***

**14:40 UTC May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"We have extraterrestrial gates opening!"

That got her attention instantly. The green haired woman dashed to the monitors of the Peak's Supreme Command Center where the agents were frantically reading the new data that was bombarding the network. "What the hell?! Where are they opening?!"

"Data's coming in now, Director," one of the agents replied as the screen was suddenly filled with thermal and satellite images of Manhattan. "They're opening in Manhattan-the incursions are opening up in Manhattan!"

"Sydrill!" the green haired woman yelled out to the canine-like extraterrestrial now dashing into the Command Center. "I need identification on these things, now!"

"Of course!" Sydrill replied as he got to his post and began typing furiously, the monitors scanning the creatures now plaguing Manhattan. "We can't identify them, Director Brand! This species isn't in any of our databanks! Something else-these aren't extraterrestrial gates, they're extra dimensional!"

"So they're not aliens in a sense," the woman muttered. It only took her three seconds to make her next decision. Opening up a channel on the Peak's communications system, she yelled, "This is SWORD Director Abigail Brand calling the SHIELD Helicarrier! I need to speak to Director Nick Fury, now!"

* * *

***St. Francis College, Brooklyn NY, across the East River from Manhattan***

**14:41 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Well, that was a good speech, wasn't it, Donald?"

"It was, Jane," the blond man said with a smile as he shook the astrophysics professor's hand. The blond man was heavily built, with a large frame of muscle and abs, blonde hair that flew to the bottom of his neck, and a slight scruff of facial hair. "Thank you for having Miss Foster and myself as guest speakers here, Professor James."

"Of course," the professor smiled in return as she led them to the exit of the college. "The students were thrilled to hear such experts in the astrophysical field-especially you, Dr. Blake, your recent works on the Einstein-Rosen bridge theories is just brilliant."

After saying goodbye, the two guest lectures walked to the railings that separated the college from the East River. Jane Foster, one of the most well respective astrophysicists smiled as she remembered her companion giving his speeches to the awed students. After three years since arriving here, he had adapted as best he could, even going so far as to take up her career field. And surprisingly, his knowledge…it amazed her. He soon became a respected consultant and expert in astrophysics. He still missed his home, his father and friends, but he did his best here with them…with her. Even though it was partially her fault he was here…Yep, he had come quite the long way since she, Darcy and Erik found him in New Mexico three years ago…

Suddenly, an ear splitting monstrous roar rang out, echoing across the river and surprising both them and the other students &amp; faculty of the college who were on the campus grounds outside. The roar…it sounded as if it came from Manhattan, and Jane was shocked to see elements of green energy in skies.

"Oh my god," she whispered as she brought her hand to her mouth.

"That roar…" her partner said with dread, and she turned to him.

"Donald?" she asked, using his alias in case there were other nearby people listening, which she soon saw wasn't the case as they were all too busy seeing the spectacle over Manhattan. He didn't face her, but kept his attention to Manhattan. She then called him by his real name. "Thor?"

Another earsplitting roar.

He turned to face Jane. "That was the roar of Ymir, King of the Frost Giants…"

* * *

_**XXXXX**_

_**TO BE CONTINUED…**_


	2. Assemble! Part 2

Chapter 2: Assemble, Part 2

* * *

***Tribeca, Manhattan***

**14:57 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

It was a war zone.

Left and right, the giant blue creatures destroyed and killed and ravaged. The NYPD rushed to respond as best they could, regular units and SWAT divisions taking to the streets, engaging the blue titans as best they could. It was clear, however, that they were outmatched and overpowered. Desperately, they fired their weapons of handguns and combat shotguns and assault rifles in their attempts to battle the creatures that were destroying them. This was the scene across all of the island of Manhattan, not just here in Tribeca. But here, the carnage was just as bad as across the island. The Frost Giants (their names unknown to the humans) sowed destruction in their paths, their power and might seemingly unchallenged. It was chaos.

His sister, however, knew chaos like no other.

As a Jotun made to slam his ice club upon a squadron of police firing at it, it was suddenly bombarded by a flurry of pink-colored spheres of energy. The Jotun roared in pain as it staggered back against the barrage, its weapon falling to the ground and shattering in half. Across the metallic-carnage filled street stood a woman wearing an all scarlet outfit made of a coat-dress fusion attire with a cut down by her legs, revealing legs covered by scarlet pants and scarlet boots. From her gloved hands came the dangerous hex energy that was bombarding the Jotun, which now was collapsing into the side of a nearby building, its body now seared with ugly scorches and marks. The woman's attention was suddenly diverted as all other nearby Jotun roared and began charging at her, weapons in hand.

"Was your brother not enough of an example?" she mused to herself as her hands began glowing again, this time with the powers of arcane arts. With a yell, she fired massive bolts of magical hex energy at her opponents, unleashing a slew of chaotic side effects upon their bodies, enticing more roars of pain and agony. So concentrated on her current batch of enemies was she, however, that she failed to see another group of Jotun charging her from her side.

Luckily, however, she was saved by a sudden blur and gust of wind as punches going at the speed of sound and too fast for the naked eye to see, powered by mighty momentum, bombarded said Jotun, catching them by surprise as they roared in pain and confusion. The woman's attention was suddenly diverted as their bodied crashed into the pavement before her eyes, the blur slowing down to reveal a man that had the same face as the woman, except his eyes were a different shade of blue. He had white hair in contrast to her brunette locks, and he wore an attire consisting of blue &amp; gray Kevlar mesh shirt with streaks of white bolts on the side, along with black pants &amp; footwear. He had a smirk on his face as he stared at her, which she retorted to with a huff and a cross of her arms. The roars of more Jotun returned their focus to more creatures appearing, now making for them.

"Wanda, my sister," the man smirked as he readied himself, his voice coated in an Eastern European accent. "Try to keep up."

"Pietro, my brother," the woman huffed as her hands glowed again, her voice wearing the same accent. "Try not to be such an ass."

* * *

***Entering NYC airspace; 2000ft above Times Sqaure***

**14:57 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"How bad is it?" Agent Barton asked as he readied his quiver.

"Apocalyptic bad," the Director responded, his voice echoing through their comms. "We're reading multiple portal incursions, and tons of these things are coming out of the portals. What they are, we have no idea; they don't match anything on the SWORD database."

"So, we are basically jumping into a war against an enemy whom we know nothing about, _da_?" Agent Romanova asked as she flew the jet, her Russian accent thick with agitation of the situation. She hated going into combat against an enemy they knew nothing about that could easily rip her in half, like the images on the screen were showing.

"Sounds fun," Agent Morse smirked, her battle staves at the ready. "Anything on a potential source, a point of origin, anything? That would help a bit."

"Negative, Morse. Our satellites aren't picking up jack on a specific point."

"Ok, so an enemy we know nothing about, who can clearly give pack a punch and are three times our size," Barton mused, pulling his cowl over his face. "How do we play this out?"

"Like we always do, soldier," another voice said with authority. It came from the drop ship's closed launch door, from a man in his early thirties who was heavily muscled thanks to an experimental serum in the 1940s. He wore body armor stylized in the manner of the American Flag, a white star in the middle on his chest, and he wore thick red leather combat gloves &amp; boots. He wore a helmet with a white letter A on its front, and his hand was a large vibranium/adamantium alloy shield, the American Flag styled on it with a white star in the middle. "We go down there, save innocents, and knock these things into next week."

"You know, there is something about your old fashioned speaking that always gets me itching for a fight, old man," Barton smirked.

"Then I'm expecting some action from you down there," the man smirked. He then placed a finger on his comm. "Fury, what's our back up status?"

"The other Secret Warriors are an hour out, at least, Captain; you five are the closest ones there."

"Brilliant," Agent Drew sighed, her fist beginning to glow with green energy. Before anyone else could say anything, though…

"-anvers to SHIELD-zzzt!- Come in! This is Carol Dan-zzzzttt bzztz jhdbcd!-Back up now! I repeat, New York is under attackbsbbbzzzzt!-Help here now-bzzzt!" A new female voice rang through the comms, a voice unfamiliar to the Captain. Not so for the others, however; the other four SHIELD agents hadn't heard that voice in the comms for a few years now, and never expected to again since the owner of the voice quit the Warriors some years back.

"Carol!" Drew replied into her comm, happy to hear the voice of her best friend. "Oh my God, where are you?! What's going on down there?! Can you hear us?!"

"Barely! There's too-zzzzt—tic, I think it's the interference from the energy! Where are you, Jess?!"

"I'm on a drop ship with Cap, Natasha, Clint &amp; Bobbi, entering New York airspace. We're about to drop into Times Square-!"

"Then redirect to the Upper West Side! I got a lady with magic powers &amp; some huge ass guy with an axe here! They're the ones who opened the portals-AAAARRRGHHH!" The distinctive sounds of battle and impact rang through the comms as a resonating collision sounded out. "And…they pack a punch…I need help with these guys!"

"Ok, boys and girls, you heard Danvers," the Director's voice said. "Divert your path to her location; we stop those guys she's engaging, we may stop this! Danvers, what is your exact position!?"

"34th Street-zztztzt-Avenue-**BOOM! **AARRGHH! DAMMIT! **SCREEAAAAHHHHHOWWW! **AAAAAA-! BZZbzzzzzzttt…." Static, and the line went dead.

"Carol!" Agent Drew yelled out, but to no avail, as no response came. "Carol, answer me, dammit!" Her mask began to slowly wet near the eyes. "CAROL!"

"Danvers, respond!" the Director ordered, with no response. "Danvers, respond, do you copy?!" Still nothing. "All five of you, get to her last known location and-!"

**BOOM!**

"We've been hit!" Romanova yelled out as she struggled to keep the jet airborne. A blast of green energy had hit one of the wings and a chunk of the rear engine, badly damaging the flying mechanisms, the result being the drop ship starting to plummet right to earth. "Brace yourselves for crash landing!"

"Negative, Romanova!" the Captain yelled as he punched the bay door button, opening the launch bay. "Everyone, abandon ship! We're going in hot! Drop, now!" With that, he jumped off the falling jet, straight for the ground.

"He's crazy!" Barton yelled as he ran to the bay and jumped after him.

"Geronimo!" Morse yelled as she did the same.

"Drew?" Romanova asked as she came to the British SHIELD agent. "Are you alright?"

"We're going to kill them," Drew snarled at the Russian. "Every last one of them."

"_Spazio_, baby," Romanova smirked as she cocked her M27 machine gun. "Let's go." With that, the two former assassins jumped out of the plummeting jet, themselves now plummeting after their teammates. All five of them refused to let fear grip them, allowing only determination and skill guide them as they plummeted down into Manhattan, into the carnage caused by these creatures, ready to engage their enemies.

Agent Clint Barton, codename: Hawkeye.

Agent Bobbi Morse, codename: Mockingbird.

Agent Natalia Romanova, codename: Black Widow.

Agent Jessica Drew, codename: Spider Woman.

All led by Captain Steve Rogers, the legendary Captain America.

* * *

***Stark Tower***

**14:58 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Oh god…Oh…Oh, Tony…"

"Mm…so good…"

"OH! Tony, you animal!"

'Sir…'

"Not now, JARVIS-Whoa! I didn't think THAT would feel good…!"

"Oh, Tony, don't stop…oh don't stop…ahh, yes, oh yes-!"

'Sir, your attention is needed…'

"I SAID not now, JARVIS!"

"Ahhh…oh…yes…yesyesyes…don't stop-! AHH!"

"Oh yeah…"

'Sir, there are giant blue creatures attack Stark Tower, along with all of Manhattan.'

"JARVIS, I SAID NOT-wait, what?"

**KABOOM!**

"OH MY GOD!" Pepper yelled out for a whole new reason as the tower suddenly shook violently, causing her to fall off the workshop table that Stark had placed her upon. Getting up, she returned her pencil skirt back to where it belonged as she rushed to the window, buttoning up her blouse back up, her bra completely forgotten on the floor. Her yell of surprised brought a shirtless Stark to the window and he also gasped. Before their eyes, green balls of energy reigned down upon Manhattan, and on the ground they could see massive numbers of blue and very tall creatures with numerous weapons made of ice attacking pretty much everything in sight. Including Stark Tower, Tony realized.

"JARVIS!" he yelled as he dashed for his armor gauntlets and put them on. "Activate the Mark 22, NOW!"

'Sir, "616" hasn't been properly tested-'

"Then this is the test then! Pepper," Tony said as he held her. "Stay in the tower, no matter what, and make sure everyone stays inside and heads to the shelter in the basement!"

"Tony, you can't be seriously going out-!"

"Yes, I am! I love you!" Stark yelled as he ran to an open window. "JARVIS, deploy!" Instantly, black and gold armored pieces flew up and raced to Stark, covering his entire body from head to toe. In just a few seconds, Stark was completely covered up in black and gold armor. With a soft whine, the helmet landed on his head, and with the visor clasping into place, Iron Man Mk 22 "616" was now online.

'Armor power levels at 100% full capacity. Reserves are at 500% capacity. Repulsor weapons fully charged and all other weaponry fully stocked. Shields and tactical trajectories are fully powered. All systems online and connecting to networks now.'

"Alright, JARVIS, let's go!" Stark yelled as he jumped off the Tower, plummeting down right for the Jotun that he didn't know where called Jotun. Instantly, the armor repulsor jets activated, allowing his trajectory to be true and precise as he raced straight for the giant creatures. "JARVIS, initiate warhead launch sequence!"

Instantly, miniscule tactical warheads ejected from Stark's shoulders, all of them firing and racing for the massive bodies of Jotun attacking Stark Tower and the surrounding areas, not to mention the people in the streets. Just seconds before the warheads made contacts, Iron Man veered to his right, unleashing a barrage of repulsor blasts upon the unsuspecting Jotun. At that exact moment, the warheads made contact, and though they were small, they packed quite the wallop as they exploded massively, enticing roars of pain and anger from the Jotun. Some managed to escape any harm, but many were massively burned and marred, while some actually fell dead upon impact, their blue and ice-tinged flesh splattering everywhere.

"Ok, that is disgusting," Stark mused, readying his repulsors for more hits as the Jotun began to come at him. "JARVIS, scan one of these things and analyze."

'Their biology matches nothing on any SHIELD, SWORD or worldwide network database, sir,' JARVIS responded after a few seconds.

"Well…that's not good; anything on SHIELD showing up?"

'The SHIELD Helicarrier is currently 2000 miles away from the United States. It is currently travelling at its top speeds but it will not arrive for another hour at least. However, I have intercepted a transmission from the Helicarrier-five agents of SHIELD's Secret Warriors have deployed just moments ago and are currently engaging these attackers…including Captain Rogers, sir.'

"Capsicle's in town? Nice, we'll drop by to say hello…after we handle these!" Stark yelled as he fired his unibeam at the swarming Jotun.

* * *

***Upper West Side, Manhattan***

**15:06 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Oh…my…god…"

They were simply trying to make a quick buck today: break into an electronics store, loot it and sell the merchandise for some quick money. They didn't expect any of this to happen-an invasion of blue giants that were literally tearing all of New York City apart, a hot-ass woman and her buff bodyguard axman starting it all…or one of the most powerful (and sexy) heroes in the city to get her ass handed to her seven different ways and be thrown like a rag doll into the building next to them. They were just four criminals, armed with a crowbar, a ball &amp; chain, some street fighting skills, and an old metal wrestling helmet. Before their eyes, these four thugs were seeing what they thought was the end of the world happening.

Dirk Garthwaite, Eliot Franklin, Henry Camp and Brian Philip Calusky all had no idea what to do.

"Do you see that?!" Camp yelled as he looked at the Enchantress and Executioner in the distance. "That green broad slapped her around like she was nothing-and she's supposed to have fought the Hulk before!"

"Franklin," Calusky yelled as he looked to Franklin. "This wasn't what we signed up for, man! This is the end of the world, dammit!"

"Yeah I can see that, you dumbass!" the former psychologist yelled back, his ball &amp; chain in his left hand as he searched for a way for the four of them to get out of the area and somewhere safe. But everywhere he looked, however, he saw masses of the creatures as they pillaged and destroyed, and the police's attempts to fight back.

Dirk, however, was bold enough to approach the heroine's unconscious form. He would be lying to himself if he said that he never had any fantasies about her; hell, any sane and straight male criminal in the city must've, more so when she used to have her old costumes. Damn, she was hot as hell…and here she was, unconscious, her costume torn a bit…

"Dirk!" Camp said as he and the other three ran up to him. "We need to get outta here, c'mon!"

"Let's have some fun with the lady, first," Dirk replied with a sneer.

"Man, are you crazy!?"Calusky yelled back. "The world is ending and you wanna have some fun?!"

"Have you not seen her-?!"

"Calusky's right, Dirk, we need to-!"

"Going somewhere, mortals?"

All four of them gasped as they turned to see the green-clad woman, the Enchantress, standing behind them, her hands glowing dangerously with green magical energy and a sinister sneer on her face; behind her stood her faithful servant, the Executioner.

"OH SHIT!" Calusky yelled in fear and horror, thinking instantly that the end had come for them all. Immediately, he turned and ran, and the other three followed in less than two seconds, dashing after their companion, not stopping until Executioner's ax flew past them and landed mere inches in front of where they could've been. They barely had made it to the block corner before the two powerful invaders stopped them. With horror, Calusky, Dirk, Camp &amp; Franklin shrunk back in fear, utterly terrified of whatever was now about to happen to them.

"Please…please," Calusky begged. "Don't hurt us!"

"Hurt you?" Enchantress smirked. "On the contrary…I think I can find some use of you mortals."

"What?!" Dirk said with surprise. "Whaddaya mean?"

"As you can see, mortals," Enchantress continued, her hand motioning to the devastation occurring at the moment across Manhattan at the hands of the Frost Giants, "a new era is beginning, and your pathetic world is going to be extinguished. All shall be remade for the glory of the one I serve, Loki of Asgard. However, my lord is always on the lookout for new followers, those who are willing to support his cause and fight for him. I offer you the chance to have power in this new world order-authority and prestige, power beyond imagination, and the strength to do what you wish. All I and my lord ask," she continued as she stretched her hand to the four of them, "is that you pledge you loyalty to him and his cause, and help us take this world."

"We do this, and we live, basically?" Franklin asked.

"Exactly."

"So…we get to be on top, strong, in charge, and no one will be able to stop us," Dirk said. The next moment, he was sneering. "Lady, where were you three years ago when I needed that! Guys, with that kind of power, no one will be able to ever stop us! And if we win and help them take over, we'll be in charge! All those assholes that made our lives miserable…"

"All the money we can ever want!" added Calusky.

"No one will be able to stop us!" Camp shouted with glee, fists in the air.

"That sounds like a sweet deal to me!" Franklin sneered, gripping his ball &amp; chain.

"Lady," Dirk said as he held his crowbar. "You got yourself a deal."

"Perfect," Amora cackled, her hands now alive &amp; glowing with energy. "Then prepare yourselves, for now, your decisions shall be rewarded as you are granted the power and abilities to serve Loki as he sees fit!" Suddenly, her green energy shot into the skies, but instantly returned a few seconds later, and the burst landed directly on the four thugs. The energy burst into a blinding explosion, and Amora could hear the men's screams of agony and pain, but soon they disappeared and were replaced by the sounds of cackles and laughter and shouts of joy. In the energy, she could see the shapes of their bodies as they grew and got more muscular and brolic. She sneered to herself as she said, "And new followers for Loki are born."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the street, the heroine that Enchantress had disposed of moments ago was now regaining conscious and was witnessing just what was happening. Her mouth fell in shock at the sight before her. "Oh, my god…" she gasped in horror. She didn't know was going on, but she knew one thing: those two, the guy with the ax and the witch, they were strong, like her kind of strong, and she knew she couldn't handle this alone. Seeing her comm was trashed, she flew into the skies and headed to Times Square, hoping her former teammates had actually gotten there.

* * *

***Columbia University Campus, Upper Manhattan***

**15:10 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

Left and right, students were panicking and running around in terror and fear. There were only a few dozen cops and SWAT units around, and despite their best efforts to protect the students and professors of the college, they were out of their league. The Frost Giants were going through them like nothing, wreaking havoc as they destroyed the various campus buildings and slaughtered humans by the dozens. With their inhuman cries of war and destruction, they continued to lay waste to the area. Outside the Columbia campus, more Jotun were doing just the same. Everyone was rushing as desperately as they could to head to the nearby subway stations to seek shelter and protection from the invaders trying to kill them. This was difficult for the students on campus, being they had to go through all the destruction and the Jotuns themselves. Luckily, they had some help on their side.

With a thunderous boom, an abnormally large man crashed through the Columbia Library building, a Frost Giant on him, intent on killing him. The man was clothed in a black Kevlar body armor with lines of yellow running along and the arms, complete with yellow gauntlets and boots, topped off with red goggles that served many purposes; an outfit fashioned by his wife when he decided to forego his former identity. At the moment, he was 15ft tall, roughly the size of the Jotun, but he was able to change that size in a whim if need be. With a swift movement of his arm, he grabbed the ice club the Jotun made to bash into his head.

"How the hell did I get you to talk me into this?!" Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym yelled as he landed a swift right hook at the Jotun's face, sending him flying back into the Library building. As Pym got back up, he saw a whole gang of Jotun racing at him, weapons in hand. They were instantly surprised as their opponent's size grew, into twice as tall as them. Nonetheless they attacked, only to be instantly bombarded with a vicious array of bio-stings from seemingly out of nowhere. Distracted, Pym then lay waste to the Jotun, sending them flying and slamming into the ground.

As he shrunk down to normal human size, the source of the distraction revealed herself as she grew back into normal size. It was a woman, a brunette with short hair and a slender petite figure. She wore a dark purple outfit that completely covered her body, including hands, legs and feet. Her front torso part of her costume had a large yellow insignia on it, somewhat in the shape of a wasp sting. As she grew, a pair of insect like wings became visible as they shrunk back onto her back.

"Oh, c'mon Hank," Janet van Dyne-Pym replied, her smirk turning into a frown. "Look around you-this place is like a war zone. We need to help these people. Most of them are your students after all. Besides, what's the use of superpowers if you don't use them to save people?"

"We fight supervillians, not alien invaders," Hank sighed, firing an energy blast at a nearby Jotun trying to destroy the Science building, sending it crashing into the ground upon impact. "Where's SWORD or SHIELD-?"

"Not here-but WE are, so let's make the best of it," Jan replied with a smile as she quickly kissed his cheek. Suddenly, they found themselves surrounded by a full battalion of Frost Giants, each roaring and brandishing their weapons. Hank &amp; Jan went back to back, the smirk back on Jan's lips. "C'mon, honey, let's show them what Yellowjacket and Wasp can do!"

* * *

***Times Square ***

**15:17 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

SWAT units and police were rapidly shooting and firing at any and all Jotun in the area. Squad cars were coming in and officers were doing their best. But it seemed like a lost cause. Hand guns and combat shotguns didn't pack the punch they needed, and they didn't have enough assault rifles to hand out. But they refused to falter or fall back. People were counting on them, and while people were going around running away in terror, they stood their ground, but they were suffering for it. They couldn't bring down the Jotun, and it seemed they were wasting away their bullets. They needed military back-up now. The NYC Police Commissioner had requested military assistance, but…

An explosion to the right signaled another SWAT car crushed, and two nearby officers were consumed by the flames. Another officer rushed up to the position of the sergeant on the scene, where he and a few other cops and SWAT units were crouched behind two cruisers. Arriving, he yelled out, "It's going to be another hour before the National Guard can get here! Air Force and Marines are scrambling right now, but there's no ETA yet!"

"National Guard-?!" the sergeant began to yell, only for an ice spear to impale a nearby squad car, tearing it in half directly in the middle. "Does the army even know what's happening here?!"

"Do WE?!"

There was a sudden thump on the squad car in front of them. They all instantly aimed their weapons up in reflex, ready to shoot at whatever it was…only to be surprised by the sight of a man in blue and white combat body armor, an "A" on his helmet, red gloves &amp; boots and a red &amp; white shield with a star. "You need to get men onto those rooftops," he ordered, pointing towards some of the buildings. "These things can't get up there so it gives some good sniper positions. You'll need to aim for their joints; that's where their weak points are. Get these people off the streets, and into the subways, or basements of buildings but they can't be above ground or they'll get slaughtered. These things are all across Manhattan, so a perimeter isn't an option, but we'll need positions of rally and regrouping. We can start one over on 42nd St, near the Port Authority Bus Terminal."

The cops were stunned. "Why the hell should we take orders from you?!" the sergeant demanded.

At that moment, a Jotun attack their position, its axe coming down upon them. They would've died-if the man hadn't blocked it with his shield. As the Jotun brought his weapon back up, the man with the shield attacked, heading straight for the creature's knee and bashing it with his shield; the Jotun roared as he got on one knee, and then man then swung his shield right at its face, spilling blue blood as he did, causing another roar of pain. Jumping up, the man again rammed his shield into the giant's face, enticing a sickening crack, and then kicked it right in the neck, right where a human's jugular would be. The Jotun collapsed onto the ground, clutching its open and broken jaw.

At that moment, another man appeared, this one wearing what appeared to be some type of dark purple medieval costume, but it was in reality a light body armor combat uniform customized to look as such. He wore a dark blue and purple cowl with an "H" on the forehead, and he was armed with a bow and a quiver on his back. Taking an arrow, he shot it into the Frost Giant's mouth and walked away. About three seconds later, the arrow exploded, killing the Jotun instantly.

Arriving at the cops, he looked at the sergeant, pointed at the man with the shield and simply said, "Because that's Captain America, wise ass."

It didn't take long for that to sink in, and soon the radio chatter across the city was alive with the plans.

"Well, that was easy," Hawkeye stated with a smirk as he looked at the dead Jotun.

"Yeah, I'm sure, especially with all that work you did to bring it down," Captain America smirked in reply.

At that moment, three women came up next to the two men. One was a red head and wore an all-black Kevlar combat outfit, with fingerless gloves, stinger gauntlets on her wrists, side arms on her thighs and ankles, a belt with ammo and a knife and a red hourglass insignia, and an M27 machine gun in her hands. The second was a full blond, wearing a blue and white Kevlar suit that gave a view of her cleavage, metallic gauntlets on her lower arms, dark blue combat boots that went up to her knees, a white combat belt, yellow goggles on her eyes and two twin metallic bo staffs in her gloved hands. The third woman was a raven haired British femme fatale, wearing a Kevlar material costume that was completely red except for her yellow gloves and boots. She also had a yellow insignia on her front torso beginning from above her sizeable bust and ending just were her belly button would be. An upside down triangle was on her red mask, which covered half her face and covered her eyes with white lenses. Her hands glowed dangerously with green energy. Each of them was rather attractive and would've turned heads if not for the current situation.

"These things are all over the place," Mockingbird said as she connected her staves into one, a bit of thick blue liquid noticeable on the tips. "They don't go down easily, Cap."

"Unless you throw Jessica at them," Widow remarked with a smirk, reloading her firearm. "They sure did like her…or it could be her pheromones."

"That was just creepy," Spider Woman muttered. "Ok, so what's the plan, Steve?"

There was a sudden roar as they turned their attention to the rest of the Jotun in the area, and they saw that they were all just trashing the Square, killing people and fighting off the cops trying to stop them. "I'm going to say we start with stopping these things," Captain America said, and with that, he charged at a group of Jotun. "Pick some and take them down, team!"

With those words, the five of them joined with the human forces and attacked, all their SHIELD and military training coming out as they struck with precision and dangerous grace, each of them unrelenting against the opponents three times their size. Hawkeye rapidly fired explosive, smoke bomb, incendiary, impact and sonic arrows at the creatures, gaining their attention and while he managed to land good hits, even sending a number of them down for the count. It was all he could do to avoid their hits and continue firing at them. Black Widow had slid under some Jotun and began firing upwards, right were a male human's crotch would be, and apparently, shooting a Jotun there is just as painful as kicking a man there. As they fell to their knees in pain, she dodged the cascading ice weapons trying to hit her and jumping up, she fired her Widow stingers at them, making sure to hit their joints and eyes. Her Red Room enhanced abilities allowed her to keep up her agility and dodge the hits they kept throwing at her.

Meanwhile, Mockingbird, with her slender and somewhat petite form, easily and gracefully dodged all the Jotuns' hits, and with her adamantium coated staffs, she began to relentlessly attack their joints and faces, using the destroyed cars and the bodies of Jotun as jumping points and managing to land a few fatal blows. Captain America used his almost-superhuman agility to easily evade all hits heading for him and continued to throw his shield around, hitting Jotun left and right and landing powerful kicks at their joints behind their legs.

Spider Woman went for the more direct approach, actually landing punches backed by her superhuman strength and landing powerful venom blasts also utilizing her pheromone manipulation to get the Jotun in a daze and unbalancing them. The efforts of the SHIELD agents were paying off.

For a while.

Numbers started turning against their favor-they were still only five agents and a dwindling number of cops against dozens upon dozens of these creatures. It was only a matter of type until one of them got a lucky hit, and that was the case with Bobbi as she was slammed right into the window of the Toys-R-US megastore, and it hurt like hell.

"BOBBI!" Barton yelled as he raced for her position, firing arrow after arrow, hitting and killing each one of his marks.

"Babe, I'm ok," she muttered as she struggled to get up. "Ow…damn, that hurt…"

"Watch your flanks!" Cap yelled out as he picked up a dead SWAT officer's assault rifle, helping some officers with cover fire. "We have incoming, people!" A new group of Jotun had just arrived from a nearby portal, fresh and ready to bring some hurt, and the agents were right there. Rogers and the cops tried to keep them back with gunfire, but it wasn't doing much; as the fresh new Jotun forces struck, it wasn't long before almost all the cops the Warriors were helping were either slaughtered or retreating. "Hold the line! Brace yourselves-!"

"AHHH!"

"Spider Woman!" Widow yelled out as she found herself being overwhelmed by the Jotun, desperately trying to keep them back with gunfire and stinger blasts. Jessica meanwhile, had been hit by a Jotun and it had slammed her into the ground, keeping her there with its hand, the other hand holding a spear. Hawkeye made to fire an explosive arrow at the Jotun, but five more crashed into the Toys-R-US store, looking to kill him and Bobbi. Jessica desperately tried to get its hand off her, but to no avail, and she wouldn't charge up a Venom blast in time.

She nevertheless stared defiantly at the Jotun making to kill her, snarling, "C'mon, do your bloody worst!"

**SNIKT! SNIKT!**

The giant then roared in vicious pain as it pulled it's hand back, allowing the heroine to escape. The five agents and the cops soon could see why: the giant collapsed onto the ground dead, with a man with metallic claws sticking to the back of the neck, where blue blood was gushing out. His black body armor/leather uniform was slightly tattered and partially covered in blue blood already, and he had the look of murder in his eyes. Seeing the heroine, he sheathed his claws and helped her up.

"Jessica," he greeted. "Good to see ya again."

"Likewise, Logan," Spider Woman smirked. "Thank you for that, by the way."

"Don' mention it," he replied, now turning to the rest of the Jotun, unleashing his claws again. "Guessing this is happening all across Manhattan? I've been hackin' through these things since over on the Lower East Side. "Where are they comin' from?!"

"No idea," Rogers said as threw his shield again at another group of Jotun. "Good to see you again, by the way."

"Pleasure's all mine, Steve!" Logan yelled as he jumped up and slashed five Jotun across the throats. Another Jotun made to kick him into the nearby McDonalds super restaurant, only to be instantly killed by both an incendiary arrow and an explosive arrow to the head.

"Hawkeye," Logan stated.

"Wolverine," Hawkeye replied as he and Bobbi walked over.

"Um, we still have a problem, comrades!" Widow yelled out, getting everyone's attention, where multiple Jotun were coming together to kill them all. "There's too many of them!" she continued as she aimed her M27, the others readying for a heavy battle. "We need to-!" She never finished her sentence as suddenly, a surge of yellow energy blasted right into the incoming Jotun, sending them all flying back.

A figure the descended from the skies and rammed right into the body of creatures. Powerful echoing punches and mighty blasts of energy were heard as the Jotuns were quickly taken care of. Soon, the figure had handled every single one of them, finishing off by flinging three of the remaining Jotun out to see, towards the East River. The figure descended to the ground, revealing a very beautiful woman in her late 20s, wearing a slightly tattered blue skin tight Kevlar material costume with a red with gold striped top near the neck and shoulders, with an 8-pointed star on her chest. She wore red gloves &amp; boots, and had a red sash around her waist. Her thick &amp; long blond hair billowed in the wind, flowing in the form of a ponytail courtesy of the red cowl she had on her face. Her hand was encased in a sphere of energy and the whites that covered her eyes seemed to glow.

"Someone needed help?"

"CAROL!" Jessica yelled in joy as she hugged her best friend. "I thought-the radio-!"

"They just knocked me out," Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel, grinned as she hugged her best friend before going over to the others. "Clint, Tasha, Bobbi...I don't think I've met you in person, Captain," she added as she shook Rogers' hand. "Carol Danvers; former Secret Warrior under moniker of Ms. Marvel, now going by Captain Marvel."

"Pleasure," he replied. "Air Force, I'm assuming?"

"Pride of the military, sir," she beamed. She then turned to Wolverine. "Hey, Logan; good to see you again."

"Danvers," Logan said with a small smirk.

"So, what's going on your end of things?" Bobbi asked.

"Well, I was tussling with the two who started all this; they're the ones who knocked me out. They're pretty strong…like my kind of strong. When I came to, they were doing something to four random guys, but I couldn't save them…Anyways, the leader of these things is out there somewhere, but I say we take out the two I met. We stop them, we can probably stop this," Carol replied.

"A very good plan, mortal," a sultry voice rang out. All seven of them turned to see the Enchantress and the Executioner standing atop of a pile of Jotun carcasses, both with smirks on their lips. "Unfortunately, you are in no position to carry it out," Amora added, a lazy sneer on her face.

"Them?" Logan said as he and the others got ready for battle.

"Yep," Carol snarled, her fists glowing with energy. "How about you come here and say that to my face, bitch?! I'll show you just what kind of position I'm in to hand you your ass!"

"Oh please, spare me the feeble attempts," Enchantress yawned. "Besides, it is not I you should be concerned about. I can't have you ruining the fun of the Jotun Frost Giants, now can I?

At that, the building to the right of the seven heroes exploded, and from the smoke and dust, four figures emerged. One held a crowbar, another held a ball-&amp;-chain, the third had over sized hands, and the four had some kind of metal helmet on his head. They were huge and had a lot of muscle, and the clothes they had were ripped and tattered, as if they had rapidly grown out of them. They immediately looked to the heroes and sneered.

"Time for some fun, boys!" Dirk Garthwaite yelled out, and Eliot Franklin, Henry Camp and Brian Philip Calusky did the same in joy. "Let's get 'em!"

* * *

***The Raft***

**15:20 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"What the hell was that?!" Coulson yelled into his comm, his gun at the ready as he helped Betty off the floor.

"Not sure, Agent," came the response. "We register the three projectiles only seconds before the impact-oh my…Sir, we're getting information of some kind of invasion in Manhattan. I repeat, there is an extraterrestrial invasion occurring in Manhattan!"

"Dammit!" Coulson yelled. "All Raft personnel, we are now in Protocol R5, I repeat, R5! All superhuman prisoners are to be moved to the entrance to 42 for temporary placement! This is not a drill!"

The transport dock had taken quite the hit. There was dust and debris everywhere as SHIELD agents and Hulkbusters started getting back up. A large gaping hole was in the roof and wall, where three projectiles had come in a collision course with the Raft. It had caused immediate chaos, and all cells in the prison went into Max Containment mode. Agents were now rushing to the scene, to the transport dock.

General Ross, gun in hand, looked to where the gaping hole was, only to see green light above Manhattan. "What the hell is going on?!" he asked himself.

"Manhattan is under attack," Coulson replied as he and Betty came over to him. "I'm assuming whatever hit us came from debris from the attack." He reached for his comm, ready to call his boss, but before he could…

"Wait, where's Bruce?!" Betty yelled.

"Oh shit!" Ross yelled. "All Hulkbusters, secure the prisoner, now before-!" He was interrupted by a vicious roar, not one like the Hulk gave. Three figures stood up from the debris, shocking everyone in the room. They were blue skinned and 15ft tall, and they were pissed off. These where the projectiles.

Captain Marvel had thrown the Jotun towards the Raft.

"OPEN FIRE!" Ross and Coulson yelled out as they themselves fired. Unfortunately, the bullets and heavy caliber energy lasers did nothing against the three Jotun. In retaliation, they attacked and charged at the agents and soldiers, killing three and sending most flying into the walls. Ross and Coulson had managed to dodge just in time, but Betty had barely avoided, and she had crashed onto the floor. One of the Jotun made to grab her, a sneer on its face and its disgusting teeth showing.

"BETTY!" Ross yelled in horror.

"AHHHH!" she screamed, thinking her fate was sealed.

**RRRRAAAAAAAAUUUURRRHHHHH!**

Only then did Ross realize Banner's mobile cell was half destroyed. The Jotun, Betty, Ross, Coulson and the agents &amp; soldiers turned to see a giant green behemoth, standing atop the remains of the cell. Its muscles were thick and powerful, and popping veins were visible, and it wore orange pants that were torn. Its expression was one of pure rage, however. It let out another bestial roar, looking directly at the Jotun.

All Betty could say was, "Bruce..?"

* * *

_**XXXXX**_

_**TO BE CONTINUED…**_


	3. Assemble! Part 3

Chapter 3: Assemble, Part 3

* * *

***SHIELD Helicarrier UNS Odyssey, 1800ft above sea level, Atlantic Ocean; en route to New York City.***

**13:20 UTC May 4, 2012**

* * *

A 5'7" woman in SHIELD uniform walked up to the Director. She was fairly attractive, especially since she could make the tomboy look work on her. Her short brunette hair seemed to fit style her, and her uniform did a nice job on capturing her figure in a teasing manner, leaving just enough for the imagination. She held an aura of confidence and authority, but she also knew her place in this system, and despite her occasional questioning, she was content with what she did, and she knew where she belonged. Her fiery attitude helped in her alpha no-nonsense personality, and that somehow made her all the more appealing. Rumor all across the Helicarrier was that she and Agent Phil Coulson, the other second in command, were a thing. She was armed with two Eagle Desert handguns-one on her leg holster and the other on her body holster.

"Sir," she said. "We've lost contact with the Warriors on scene."

The Director was a tall African American man in his late forties, but he still had a very able figure and body. He was completely bald, and his face showed evidence of the toll and demand that being in this field of work took one someone. His left eye was testament to that...or rather, his left eye socket, which was hidden from the world by an eye patch. He wore an all-black outfit, complete with a leather bulletproof trench coat. He also had two Eagle Desert handguns, both on his belt holsters. He had the aura of a leader, as was fit for him due to who and what he was.

Nick Fury, Director of the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate, better known as SHIELD.

"You're kidding," Fury replied, hoping she was.

"No sir," SHIELD Deputy Director Maria Hill replied. "Not only that, we've lost contact with Coulson, and our sensors from the Raft have just shortened out. 42 is trying to establish contact while taking their prisoners for temp housing-"

"How long ago?"

"About 15 minutes, sir."

"Dammit," Fury muttered. Looking up from his Director's Stand, he took in the rest of the SHIELD Helicarrier command-&amp;-control center. Left and right, agents were moving front &amp; center as they kept the giant vessel afloat and collected data on everything that was going on in the world-particularly the invasion currently happening in Manhattan. "What's our current speed?" he asked Hill as he began walking towards the four pilot coordinators near the front of the C&amp;C center, Hill coming behind him.

"We're going at our top speed, sir, but even with that, we're still more than an hour out," Hill responded.

"A lot can happen in that time…" Fury muttered. "Dammit, I'm going to hear about and regret this...Fury to all Helicarrier personnel," he said into his comm. "Prepare for emergency ARC-speed travel. Helicarrier engine room personnel, activate emergency ARC reactors." He looked to Hill, who looked like she wanted to say something. "Don't even," he stated before heading off to the large window panels near the front.

Hill simply smirked before following. It was an interesting job, being Fury's right hand.

* * *

***Wakandan Embassy, Lower East Side, Manhattan***

**15:21 EST May 4, 2012**

* * *

Wakandan weaponry was much better than that of modern American soldiers and police. Their firearms held more caliber, more firepower and more stealth. Even their spears, which looked like primitive objects, were much more advanced. Yes, Wakandan weapons were much better…and they packed quite the punch. Something that was being demonstrated quite heavily in the war torn and chaos-ridden streets of Manhattan close to the Wakandan Embassy.

The Jotun roared in agony as another vibranium spear impaled itself into the creature's remaining eye, forcing it to drop the ice club in its hand. With it distracted, the embassy guards quickly headed for the family of five the Jotun had almost slaughtered, while the Royal Wakandan guards rapidly fired in succession at the Frost Giant, the vibranium shells and energy blasts too much for its body as it roared its last and collapsed onto the street with a loud thud, joining the slew of Jotun bodies already on the ground. This had been the scene around the Wakandan Embassy for the last 40 minutes now. By orders of the King, the Wakandan guards were helping to bring in any nearby civilians into the embassy, where they would be safe from harm. If any of the creatures tried to attack the embassy, they would find it near impenetrable-the thick marble walls were coated with thin layers of vibranium, which was still more than enough to absorb almost any hits that came their way. The creatures would realize this too late as they would then be mowed down by gunfire or javelins.

"They continue to come, captain!" one of the guards yelled as he began firing his machine gun at an approaching group of Jotun. Despite their best efforts, the guards soon saw that this was a losing battle. From what they had heard from the staff inside and from the King's elder, this was occurring all across Manhattan, and if that were the case, then there was no way they could possibly hold off for such a long amount of time against such numbers.

The Jotun then attacked again, apparently trying to use numbers to their advantage. The guards suddenly noticed a young teenage girl coming out of the ruins of a nearby restaurant. "Oh that is not good," the guard captain muttered. Some of the Jotun saw the girl and immediately broke off to get to her. Screaming, she ran towards the embassy, and a few guards ran off in her direction to get to her first before the Jotun. It didn't seem like they'd make it in time however.

At that moment, a figure in black raced past the guards at the gates of the embassy, heading right to the Jotun. In a wave of his arms, a flurry of vibranium daggers flew at the creatures, causing massive roars of pain from the creatures. But the figure didn't stop there. With superb uncanny agility, he dashed up to the Jotun and jumped up with reflexes and strength no regular human could have. Unleashing vibranium claws from his gloves, he slashed at their faces, causing massive and deep wounds, spitting blue blood from their faces. Jumping back away from them, he turned to the guards, and yelled, "FIRE NOW!" The guards did just that, shooting mercilessly at the now crippled Jotun and bringing death to them, while the man in black picked up the teenage girl and dashed back to the embassy, where he handed her over to the safety of the guards.

The man then turned at walked to where the guards were aiming at the rest of the creatures. He was completely covered in black attire, a fabric-vibranium laced costume that was considered royal clothing in Wakanda. His claws glistened and dripped in Jotun blood, and there was no skin visible. His mask covered his whole face, and it was fashioned after the moniker of a jungle cat. A black cape billowed behind him, and his aura was that of a king, a ruler and a warrior…a protector.

King T'Challa of Wakanda, also known as the Black Panther.

"Your Majesty," one of the guards began to say. "I do not think it is wise for you to-"

"I will do my part in protecting my people and the people of this city, child," Panther replied, taking out more daggers and getting into a battle stance. The guards knew they couldn't change the mind of their king once it was made up. They joined him in a battle stance, the Jotun Frost Giants charging at them-

And they were taken aback when pink energy spheres came from their right, barraging the creatures. This immediately caused roars of pain from the Frost Giants as the spheres spawned fire and other chaotic effects on their bodies. The Black Panther turned to see a woman in deep scarlet-red clothing firing spheres of energy from her hands, and a man in a blue and silver outfit standing next to her. T'Challa recognized these two individuals; they had tried to invade his kingdom a few years ago when they were still under the influence of their father. The woman stopped her attack, and in a few seconds, the man that had been next to her made quick work of them as he went at supersonic speeds and punched them into oblivion, thus ending the Jotun threat in this area temporarily. Those portals would no doubt start spewing more soon enough.

The two arrivals walked towards the embassy, and the guards immediately aimed their weapons at them, lowering them only when T'Challa raised his hand, signaling they stand down. He then walked over to the twins.

"Scarlet Witch. Quicksilver."

"Black Panther," Quicksilver said bluntly.

"It's good to see you again, Your Highness," Scarlet Witch replied with a smile. "And please excuse Pietro's attitude."

"I think it's justifiable at the moment, Wanda, seeing that we apparently are at war."

"This is happening all across Manhattan," Panther said. "A shaman of my council said dark magics are being trifled with."

"He is correct," Wanda replied. "I can sense dark magic and arcane arts at work...these portals reek of such power. I tried closing them but to no avail. I am afraid we will have to go right to the source of this magic and snip it right there. Luckily, it isn't that far."

"Where is it?" T'Challa asked.

"I sense it coming from Times Square," Wanda replied. The Black Panther wasted no time in making his next decision.

"Guards, ensure that no harm comes to those within the embassy. Protect these people as if they were Wakandans. We may have a chance of coming out of this yet!"

"What shall you do, my King?" the guard captain asked.

"I am joining these two in ending this invasion and this war."

* * *

***The Raft***

**15:21 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"This is not good…" was all Ross could say.

"On the plus side, he isn't focused on us," Coulson remarked.

Betty, meanwhile, was torn between feeling relieved, terrified and speechless. The creature that was just about to kill her had turned its attention to Bruce, the man she loved with all her heart, and who she would never abandon no matter what her father tried to do...only it wasn't Bruce. In his place, the raging creature known across the world as the Incredible Hulk stood, and Hulk was now snarling, his eyes on the Jotun standing above Betty. Betty wasn't afraid that Hulk would hurt her; being that Bruce and the Hulk were one, she knew he cared for her. It was what would happen afterwards that was scaring her.

"HULK SMASH GIANT BLUE MAN!" the titan roared, and with a jump, the Hulk rammed himself right into the Jotun. It made to swing its ice sword at him, only to be viciously slammed into the prison walls and savagely punched in the face by Hulk. The titan landed blow after staggering blow, bringing the Jotun closer and closer to his demise. With a bloody and broken face, the Jotun nevertheless fought back.

Unfortunately, despite being very strong, its strength levels were nowhere near that of the Hulk's strength. It did have numbers on its side, though. As the Hulk made to deliver the final blow, the other two Jotun tackled him, sending him crashing into one of the prison walls. Despite their durability meant to withstand the likes of the Rhino, Ironclad &amp; Mister Hyde, Hulk's impact left a sizeable dent in the concrete/titanium fusion material. The Jotun began bashing the Hulk with their ice clubs and axes, enticing roars not of pain and hurt, but of even greater rage and fury. A massive green hand grabbed one of the weapons and crushed it in its palm, surprising its wielder enough for the Hulk to land a devastating haymaker on its face, sending it sprawling onto the ground, a crushed jaw and nose on its face. It didn't move at all upon impact, which the other two Jotun also noticed. With roars, they attacked the Hulk with a frenzy. This proved to be their final fatal mistake. With vicious punches, smashed and roars, the Hulk made quick work of the creatures, crippling them and making them bleed badly. In agony, they collapsed onto the ground, too injured to do anything else besides lay on the floor as they tried to keep their blood inside their bodies.

Hulk had defeated the three Frost Giants, and now everyone present was utterly terrified for their lives. With no distractions, what was the Hulk going to do now? The titan was breathing heavily, kneeling on the ground with one fist on the ground.

"All Hulkbusters," General Ross began to say. "Open-!"

"No!" Betty yelled as she got up. "Don't even think about it, Dad!"

"Betty, the Hulk is about to kill us!" Ross yelled.

"No…he isn't," Betty replied. She then began walking towards the Hulk.

"Betty-!" Ross yelled, only to be grabbed by Coulson.

"She knows what she's doing, so trust her, Ross!"

"Hulk…Bruce…" Betty said softly as she approached the Hulk. The "monster" slowly raised his face to look at the woman. Despite his seemingly fierce and angry expression, Betty knew different. Experience had taught her that. "It's ok...they're beaten. They didn't hurt me, see?" The Hulk simply stared at her silently, and Betty took this as incentive to continue. "You won't hurt us, right? You were just trying to protect us...protect me. I know you won't hurt us."

"Hulk not going to guarantee on Ross," Hulk replied with a low rumbling voice, referring to her father. Betty knew that he wouldn't hurt him though, unless provoked. "But you're right...Hulk was just trying to protect the humans."

"I know…and thank you, Hulk...Bruce," Betty smiled.

This was enough to satisfy Coulson. And at that moment, dozens of SHIELD agents burst in through the transport dock gates. "At ease, agents," Coulson said, motioning for them to stop. "Situation is under control."

"No it is not," Ross snarled. "The Raft is destroyed, Manhattan is under attack, and you're just going to stand there and let the Hulk loose?! I should-!"

"Agents, make sure that General Ross and the Hulkbusters don't do anything stupid," Coulson said, ignoring the general; as the agents surrounded the US troops, Coulson came up to the squad leader. "What's the word, Agent?"

"The Raft lost contact with the Helicarrier," she replied. "We're trying to get that fixed up. Most of the prisoners are now in the temp cells on 42, and those that weren't transferred are still under our troops' control. Nothing else major except for what's happened here, but there is the issue of the invasion that's happening in New York right now."

"Yes, that is a problem," Coulson remarked as he fiddled with his busted comm. "I can't contact Director Fury or the Helicarrier, either."

Betty, meanwhile, ignored everyone as she watched the Hulk walk over to the gaping hole where the Frost Giants had crashed through, through the dock gates. From his vantage point, Hulk could see the pillars of smoke of the destruction occurring in Manhattan, as well as the green essence that seemed to envelop the city. Betty walked up next to him, looking where he was. She wondered what was going through his mind. Hulk stared off into the distance, his focus kept on Manhattan. It wasn't long before a familiar voice came from the back of his mind.

_"You could help them." In their mind's landscape, Hulk turned to see Bruce Banner standing before him._

_"What do you mean, Banner?" Hulk muttered._

_"You could make a difference...show them that you aren't the monster they think you are. You could go out there and help save them. They'll see your intentions. They'll see that you're actually helping to protect them, not hurt them."_

_"Or they'll see the Hulk fighting and think I'm attacking them, too," Hulk sighed as he sat down on the barren ground. "It doesn't matter what I do...they'll always believe it, and they're right. I am a monster."_

_"Only if you let it be true," Bruce replied as he sat down next to Hulk. "It'll always truly be up to you to show them that the Hulk can be a force for good. Betty believes it...Coulson believes it. Hell, even Nick Fury thinks it could maybe work, and he tried to hunt us down too, at one point." Hulk remained silent, staring off in the distance of their shared mindscape. "I hate being hunted, just as much as you do...but on the plus side, we've gotten to see the world."_

_"Yeah, there's a bright side," Hulk muttered._

_"How about this?" Bruce said. "If you do this, we can stay as Hulk. I'll simply act as a conscious, and come out only when you want us to revert back to Banner."_

_Hulk turned to stare in wonder at Bruce. "You'd...you'd do that?"_

_"Of course."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because we're in this together. What do you say? Agree?"_

_Hulk was silent for a moment, and then nodded his head. "But maybe we don't always have to stay as Hulk."_

Back in reality, Betty made to reach out her hand to Hulk, and gasped in surprise when Hulk turned to her. "Betty," he said as he crouched down to level himself with her. "Hulk...I need to go out there."

Betty was silent for a moment, and then nodded her head. "Then go. I'll find you after."

Hulk nodded. Then, standing up, he prepared his leg muscles and then with an echoing boom, he jumped away, heading straight for Manhattan. This immediately brought Coulson and Ross over to where Betty was standing. "Where the hell is he going?!" Ross yelled angrily, furious at his daughter. Coulson simply looked off to where Hulk was going.

"He's going to try and save New York," Betty whispered in response.

* * *

***Somewhere in northern Midtown East***

**15:25 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

**CRASH! FRABOOM!**

'Shields are now at 73% strength.'

"Yeah, I can see that, JARVIS," Stark muttered as he flew out of the hole he had made in the side of the tower he had just been thrown into, heading straight for the Jotun that had surprised him. His repulsors immediately fired, attacking as machine guns would, rapidly landing blow after blow on the creatures. As they recoiled from the powerful impacts, Iron Man then landed a powerful metallic haymaker on one of them. "Any luck on figuring out what these things are?!"

'I have still not been able to identify what they are, sir. Their biological readings are unlike anything on Earth, man-made or otherwise. Further analysis, however, suggests that the portals from which these invaders are coming from are gateways to another dimension.'

"Gee, that helps," Stark retorted sarcastically as he fired his uni-beam at a group of Frost Giants trying to flank his rear.

'You are being outnumbered, sir.'

"I know…!"

'And you are also allowing your left flank to be exposed.'

**POW!**

"AAAHHH!"

'I did mention-'

"YES I KNOW, JARVIS!" Stark yelled as he got up from the small crater in the street that his impact had created. He quickly saw that he was surrounded on all sides. His armor's scanners showed that there were at least 20. The armor stats also showed that while his repulsors and mini warheads were still ready to use, his uni-beam wasn't going to be charged up again for another minute. He doubted he would have enough time. "What's our status on rapid deployment shoulder mini-missiles?"

'Our current supply is almost drained; the armor only has about 10 remaining. I recommend saving those for when you need them, sir."

"I think I need them now!" Stark replied, his repulsors firing up as he prepared to fly up again. Before he could do anything, however, a giant 15ft tall man in a black &amp; yellow costume with yellow gauntlets suddenly came out of nowhere and bum rushed two of the Jotun. Sending them crashing into the ground. Before the other Frost Giants has a chance to react, he lashed out a leg and collided it with another's stomach.

"Hey, Stark," Yellowjacket yelled out as he began engaging the Jotun.

Stark simply stared on for a few seconds. "Or...Hank can just come in and save my ass...that works too."

'Indeed it does, sir.'

"I am so glad I didn't program you with actual emotions," Stark mumbled as he flew up and fired his repulsors, joining in with Pym against the creatures. "So, Hank, where's Jan?"

"Right here!" Wasp yelled out as her seven inch form flew past him, firing deadly barrages of bio-sting blasts at the Frost Giants. "And I'm having the time of my life here!"

"Should I be freaked out?" Stark asked.

"Maybe a bit," Pym replied.

The trio continued to make quick work of the invaders. Wasp relentlessly fired her stinger blasts, blinding the Jotun, while Yellowjacket and Stark pummeled their way through the hordes of invaders, felling them three at a time. Roars echoed and ice weapons shattered as the three heroes continued their unified assault. Soon, only the three of them were standing amongst a sea of Jotun bodies and unconscious forms.

"Well, that takes care of that," Jan said with a smirk as she returned to normal size.

"It's not over yet, Jan," Stark replied. "There are thousands upon thousands of these things all over Manhattan, and they're going vicious on us. The police are doing the best they can, but they're being swamped." He paused to fire a repulsor blast at a stirring Jotun. "The US military won't be here for another 40 minutes, the SHIELD Helicarrier is pretty much in the same situation...but JARVIS did find out that some SHIELD agents arrived in the city to fight these things."

"Yeah, we know," Hank replied.

"...You do?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Some ants told me."

"...ants told you."

"Yeah, they said they're all in Times Square."

"Ants told you that?"

"Yes, Stark."

Tony turned to Jan. "Remind me again why you're with him…"

* * *

***The Brooklyn Bridge, the Brooklyn side***

**15:30 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

The bridge was completely cordoned off. The NYPD had sent out the calls for back-up all across the five boroughs, being that the Manhattan divisions were being crushed. The other four boroughs responded accordingly. SWAT trucks and patrol cars were racing across the bridges and tunnels that connected Manhattan to the rest of New York City, while other NYPD officers blocked off the bridges and tunnels as best they could. Transportation across the city to Manhattan had literally stopped. On many subway and railroad lines, angry passengers were forced to wait out in the trains that were stuck in place, unable to enter Manhattan. Bridges were closed off, and hundreds of angry travelers demanded to be let across...only to decide being where they were wasn't so bad once they saw Manhattan off in the distance.

On the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge, police and firefighters had cut off the entrance, allowing only SWAT and police through, along with ambulances and some fire trucks. On the other side of the police barriers set up, civilians looked on anxiously at the sight, taking in the numerous officers standing guard on the bridge and seeing law enforcement race across the bridge to help aid the Manhattan divisions.

Suddenly, a honking horn was heard, along with a siren and a few dozen shouts from officers. People barely managed to jump out of the way of a speeding renegade police squad car. The car broke through the barriers and the police on the bridge were forced to dodge or get run over. The car was met with no resistance as it got onto the bridge and sped off towards Manhattan, joining the other cars and trucks and speeding past them.

"OH MY GOD!" Jane yelled as she hung onto the car seat for dear life. There were a lot of things that Thor had managed to adapt to as a mortal and living on Earth, or Midgard as he called it. Driving was not one of them. "THOR, YOU'RE GOING TO GET US KILLED!"

"Oh, ye of little faith," Thor laughed as he continued to speed, slamming his foot on the accelerator even more. "Besides, this is the only way we can get to Manhattan to stop this madness!"

"But did you have to hurt that cop so bad?!" Jane yelled, wincing at the memory of him knocking the officer out cold.

"He'll be fine! What matters now is we get to Manhattan. I truly have a bad feeling about this…"

"I have a bad feeling right now, and it's in my stomach!"Jane screamed. Thor simply laughed again, and continued to speed up, racing towards the battlefields. He was certain he knew what that green energy fogging the city was…

* * *

***Times Square***

**15:33 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Y'know, when ya said ya couldn' save 'em," Wolverine yelled out as he snapped his arm back into place and got up, "I thought ya meant they were bein' killed, not bein' juiced up!" With a feral roar, he ran back into the battle, ready to lay down the hurt on.

It wasn't going good. The Enchantress, it seemed, hadn't actually killed the four men that Captain Marvel had seen, but was in fact endowing them with power beyond imagination. The four men were wild about their newfound abilities, and eagerly chose to put them to the test against the heroes before them. They had even chosen their own monikers.

Wrecker, Piledriver, Bulldozer and Thunderball.

"Yeah, I know!" Carol yelled out as she and Piledriver exchanged echoing blows. "You kind of said that already!" She was a bit worried at the moment. It seemed that with their new abilities, these four guys could match her blow for blow...and she didn't know a lot of people out there that could do that. This guy, Piledriver, was easily around her strength level ballpark, which was between 70-90 tons.

"Give it up, sweetheart!" Piledriver laughed maniacally. "You can't beat us, now that we've got this new power!"

"Oh you did NOT just call me 'sweetheart,' you jackass!" she roared in reply, landing a devastating uppercut onto his chin. To her shock, it barely did anything.

"I love the rough girls," he sneered. That earned him a vicious knee kick.

"Forget what she saw," Captain America yelled out as he blocked another blow of Wrecker's crowbar with his shield, allowing Hawkeye to retaliate with a few explosive arrows; this barely did anything. "We hold the line here, no matter what!"

"Easier said than done, Captain!" Natalia yelled back as she barely dodged Thunderball's weapon being thrown at her and Spider Woman. In retaliation, Widow fired her stingers and Jessica fired her venom blasts.

"Is that really the best you can do?!" Thunderball laughed as he started tackling them, only to miss and receive Spider Woman's fist to her face.

"WHY WON'T YOU STAY STILL?!" Bulldozer roared as he came out of the hole he had created in the Disney store when he tried to tackle Mockingbird. He was answered by Logan's claws to his back and Bobbi's staffs on his face. Piledriver roared in pain as he managed to grab the mutant and throw him into a nearby abandoned car. Mockingbird barely dodged the villain's fist.

With the heroes forced to deal with these new contenders, the Jotun were free to continue their merciless destruction across Times Square, causing damage left and right. All the while, the Enchantress and the Executioner watched on, the Executioner as impassive as always but the Enchantress with a smirk on her luscious lips.

"Our lackeys are proving to be quite useful in this fight, after all," she mused.

Skurge grunted his agreement.

"Oh, come now Skurge," Amora said as she turned to him. "Loosen yourself a bit. Enjoy the carnage and rejoice that we shall soon have a world to rule." Skurge looked her, silent and unmoving for a few seconds. Without removing his gaze, he took her arm and pulled her towards him. Amora didn't understand the motion until an energy blast flew past them, right where she had been standing moments ago. Amora smirked as he released her arm. "Ever the silent guardian as always."

Skurge nodded.

"We need a plan here!" Hawkeye yelled out as he fired a net arrow at Wrecker, which was pitifully ripped to shreds. "Nothing we got is doing anything to them! Even Danvers isn't doing much!

"Well then maybe you should just give up!" Wrecker yelled as he brought his crowbar down, slamming into the SHIELD agent and sending him flying into a nearby car.

"CLINT!" Mockingbird yelled as she raced towards him. His arms and leg were broken, and it looked like multiple ribs were shattered. He was coughing up blood, and it looked like he was bleeding internally. "Oh, God, no, not you! Please, don't you leave me!" Bobbi cried as she tried to stop the bleeding in any way. "Please, Clint! Don't you dare die on me!" Her heart tore even more when Clint tried to speak, but only started choking on his own blood.

"Damn you!" Cap yelled as he tackled Wrecker, only to be slammed aside with the crowbar, surviving only thanks to his shield. The others couldn't escape their current battles to help as the Wrecker made his way to the two SHIELD agents.

"Well, this sure don't look good for you, don't it," he sneered, slapping the weapon in his hands.

"I'll kill you, you bastard!" Bobbi yelled in anger, tears pouring down her face. She clung tightly to Clint as he lay there, slowly dying.

"Oh, please," Wrecker cackled. "What can you do?! I've been given the power of gods! And if I got the power of gods, then that makes ME a god! It makes my buddies gods! That makes us stronger than you all! WE'RE THE STRONGEST ONES ON THE PLANET!"

**KRAKABOOM!**

"You sure about that?!"

The entire battle stopped as hero and villain alike registered what just happened. Standing between the two humans and Wrecker, rage pumping in his veins and muscles and a snarling smirk on his face, was the Incredible Hulk. Cracking his knuckles, he stood defiantly against the Wrecker, who became momentarily surprised terrified at the "monster" before him. Before he could react, however, Hulk had instantly landed a devastating hit onto his face, sending the villain flying into the nearby Toys-R-US superstore.

"HOLY-IT'S THE HULK!" Piledriver yelled out. "NO ONE TOLD US WE WERE GONNA FIGHT THE FREAKING HULK!"

"Now...time to smash," Hulk sneered as he attacked the nearby Bulldozer.

"Is...is that the Hulk?!" Spider Woman exclaimed.

"Isn't he supposed to be in the Raft?" Natalia asked.

"WHO CARES?!" Logan yelled. "BARTON IS DYING, REMEMBER?!" That brought them back to their senses and they all rushed to where a sobbing Bobbi cradled Clint's dying form.

"Oh my god!" Natalia gasped. She soon felt tears in her own eyes, as did Jessica and even Steve.

"We got to do something, anything!" Bobbi exclaimed.

"Kid…" Logan said softly.

"NO! DON'T GIVE ME THAT BULLSHIT, LOGAN! I WON'T LET HIM DIE!"

"Bobbi!" Carol yelled as she grabbed her and slapped her. "I don't want him to die either, but look around you! WE'RE AT WAR! We can't let our emotions get-!"

"You don't get to talk to me about emotions," Bobbi spat back, instantly silencing the blonde.

"Guys..." Clint managed to gasp, bringing attention back to him. "Bobbi...baby…"

"No," she cried. "Don't...I won't let you die."

"Perhaps, I can help," a female accented voice said. They turned to see a woman in deep red clothing approach them hurriedly. "I think I can help him."

"Wanda?" Logan asked.

"Hello, Logan," she replied.

"As in the Scarlet Witch?" Jessica asked with caution.

"She's been reformed for a few years now," Logan assured.

"Along with Pietro," Wanda said as she pointed towards the Hulk and the four villains. They saw Quicksilver attacking the villains alongside the Hulk, along with…

"Is that the Black Panther?" Cap asked with surprise.

"It is."

"They need our help," Carol said, her fists glowing as she got up. "Scarlet Witch, you sure you can help Hawkeye?"

"I am pretty sure."

"Then let's make sure nothing interrupts her," Captain Marvel replied, her military persona taking over again.

"Agreed," Captain America said. "Logan, Widow and Spider Woman, you're with us. Let's show these goons we don't take kindly to invaders.

Meanwhile, Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer were doing their best to take on the Hulk, and it wasn't easy at all. His strength was increasing with every blow they landed on him, and he was crushing them. The four villains dealt punches, kicks, weapon smashes, blows, haymakers...anything they could think of, and the Hulk just shrugged it off. They had the power of gods, yes, but the Hulk was a being of near unrivaled strength. He smashed, punched and smashed his way through the four of them. The fact that Quicksilver and the Black Panther were also helping him wasn't making it any easier. With his unparalleled speed and agility, Quicksilver could easily deal out thousands and thousands of blows in a single minute, and with the momentum behind those hits, it was as if they were being hit by the Hulk again. The Panther's claws and daggers stung at them like Wolverine's claws, slashing away at them. His agility and fighting skills were also hurting them, even though he didn't have strength like theirs, but he knew just where to place those hits.

"This is crazy!" Thunderball yelled out! "We was winning five minutes ago, and now we're getting our asses handed to us!"

"Maybe you should take the hint and surrender," Quicksilver smirked.

"Or we could smash you some more," Hulk snarled gleefully, pounding his fist into his palm. "That would work, too."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Captain Marvel said as she, Black Widow, Captain America, Wolverine and Spider Woman joined the three heroes.

"This...doesn't look good," Piledriver said uneasily.

Enchantress frowned. "Hmm...this has been an unexpected change of events. Especially with that green monster. Executioner...deal with him."

The silent warrior nodded, and his stoic face turned into a smirk. His ax began to glow red and orange, and with an unearthly war cry that brought all eyes onto him, he struck, jumping towards the Hulk and striking him down with his ax. The four villains may have had the power of gods...but the Executioner, an Asgardian, was an actual god. With a resonating boom, the two beings crashed into the giant Bank of America bank. The two got up and shrugged off the impact.

"You want to get smashed, too?" Hulk snarled. His only answer was a silent battle stance and an ax that glowed orange with flames. "Then...HULK SMASH!"

The sounds of the battle echoed for dozens of blocks, both titans crashing back outside. Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer, meanwhile, were busy fighting the other heroes. With the Hulk out of the picture for now, they only had to worry about Captain Marvel and Quicksilver.

Enchantress smirked as she watched the scenes before her. Then suddenly, her magical senses shuddered. Her hands began glowing as she looked in the direction where Wrecker had broken Hawkeye. She sensed arcane magic nearby.

"This is going to hurt him a bit," Wanda said as she held onto Hawkeye's shoulder, her hands glowing pink and the energy enveloping the archer. "But since he's already in pain, that's kind of redundant." At that, Wanda closed her eyes began muttering incantations of a language unknown to Bobbi. Suddenly, her eyes opened again, but where completely pink-red, pupils and all. Clint began yelling out in pain, spitting out more blood. Bobbi almost cried out for Scarlet Witch to stop...until she saw the broken arms begin to heal and snap back into place. Bobbi soon realized that Clint's body was healing. The blood disappeared and his limbs were soon restored. Before long, Clint Barton was happily moving his arms, fingers and leg as he was fully healed.

"Oh, God, I am never taking these babies for granted ever aga-OOMPPH!" he began to say, only to be interrupted by Bobbi's lips on his, her passion shutting down all function in his brain. Wanda smiled as she got up, happy that she had managed to save his life.

"Don't ever scare me like that again," Mockingbird gasped as she ended her kiss, helping Clint get up.

"I'll try not to," he smirked before turning to the mutant. "Thanks, Wanda. What was that?" he asked as he picked up his bow.

"Probability manipulation," she replied. "It's my power. I also do well in arcane arts, so I added a bit of that."

"T'was very powerful, indeed," Amora said with a sinister smile as she appeared before the three heroes. They immediately got into a battle stance. "That was magic unlike anything I have seen in all the nine realms. And such power doesn't belong to a lowly mortal such as yourself."

"And I suppose you deserve it?" Wanda snapped.

"Quite so...as does Lord Loki," Enchantress smirked. "And I WILL take it from you, wench, make no mistake. And there is nothing you can do to stop me!" With that, Amora fired powerful magic blasts, intent on killing the Scarlet Witch and claiming her powers for herself and for Loki. Wanda managed to conjure chaos fields in time to protect herself and the other two from the blasts.

"Both of you help the others!" Scarlet Witch yelled as she turned to Hawkeye and Mockingbird. "I'll handle her!"

"You got it!" Hawkeye agreed as Bobbi nodded. They dashed off with weapons in hand to join the others. This left Wanda and Amora alone against each other.

"You wish to take my power?!" Wanda yelled, conjuring hex spheres all around herself. Her voice held anger and she was suddenly itching for battle. "Then try to take it, witch!" The hex spheres threw themselves at the Enchantress with a wave of her arm, bombarding the villainess and making her scream from the chaotic effects that started to plague her. In rage, she unleashed a surge of her green magic energy in a wave, forcing back the hexes. Amora then fired magic blasts, which Wanda countered with her own arcane blasts. The witch and the sorceress began an exchange of blasts and spells and shields, battling with their all to prove who was the stronger of the two.

Meanwhile, the Hulk was finding that he was in a situation where his opponent was just as strong as he was. The Executioner could match him blow for blow, and he threw some powerful punches. He was also very apt with his ax, shown by the slashes on Hulk's body before they healed up quickly. The Hulk, however, held the title as the strongest being on Earth and he was living up to that name. He landed a devastating right hook on Skurge's cheek, forcing him to stagger back and opening a point for Hulk to follow up with a haymaker, sending the Executioner crashing onto the ground. Hulk made to smash him with both hands, but Skurge caught both arms with his hands, snapping his leg into a powerful kick that sent Hulk staggering back. The villain then began slashing away with his ax once more, managing to get a vicious hit on the Hulk's chest. As green blood oozed out even when the scar began to heal, Hulk unleashed a vicious roar and a thunderclap, sending the Executioner flying into the McDonald's superstore. Hulk jumped after him with a smashing hit ready, and the impact echoed for miles.

Captain Marvel landed a devastating combo of right hooks, uppercuts and roundhouse kicks on Piledriver, keeping the villain in a daze to allow Captain America to land in good hits. "How do you like it now, jackass?!" she yelled, relishing the battle.

Wolverine, Panther and Black Widow struck continuously at Thunderball and Bulldozer, unrelenting in their attacks and combining their efforts to keep the villains unbalanced and off their game. Claws, daggers, bullets and stingers united as one to strike at the two villains.

Wrecker, meanwhile, was holding his own against Quicksilver and Spider Woman. It was clear that he was the strongest of the four villains, and the most dangerous. His crowbar had left craters in the streets as he tried to hit the faster and more agile Pietro and Jessica. He was able to withstand Pietro's powerful punches easier, and he could shrug off Spider Woman's punches easily. "C'mon, sweetheart!" he yelled as he barely missed hitting her with his crowbar. "Give it up, you can't hurt me! How about you let me show you a good time!?"

"You disgusting pig!" the British agent retorted as she fired a Venom Blast to no avail.

"I got a better idea!" Hawkeye's voice rang out as he and Mockingbird joined the fray, to the joy of the others. "How about I show you what happens when you try to kill me!" The archer fired an arrow right at the Wrecker's eye, and it pierced it easily. Wrecker roared in vicious agony as his hand went for his now bleeding eye. "Jess, fire at that eye!" Clint yelled. Spider Woman eagerly complied, and the Wrecker was blinded even further. Swinging blindly, he missed Hawkeye's explosive arrow at his feet and staggered down with a crash to the ground.

"Looks like Wanda fixed you up pretty good," Natalia shouted with a smile as she fired her stingers at Thunderball.

"Yep," Barton grinned as he and Mockingbird attack Wrecker. "Good as new!"

"And where is Wanda?!" Pietro asked.

"Um, she's facing off against the lady in green!"

"YIELD, MORTAL!" Amora yelled angrily as she continued her assault.

"I've never backed down against what the world threw against me," Wanda retorted as she shielded herself and retaliated with hex spheres. "I'm not going to start now!"

"Executioner! To me!" Amora yelled out. She was answered by Skurge being thrown viciously into Bulldozers, both flying right into the middle of Times Square with a crash. This allowed Panther, Logan and Natalia to focus their efforts more on Thunderball.

"Huh, not so strong, after all," Hulk muttered as he came out of the crater he and Skurge were fighting in.

Carol just then landed a devastating ax kick on Piledriver's head, and Cap followed up with a shield smash onto his face. With a yell, Carol unleashed two energy blasts and sent Piledriver crashing into the nearby theater. "Well…" she panted. "THAT took forever and a day." She then saw that Wanda was still in battle with Enchantress, and smirked devilishly. "Oh, this is going to be good." With that, she flew right at the villainess and landed a haymaker on her jaw, sending Amora flying into a nearby abandoned bus. Captain Marvel immediately followed up with a photon blast, making the villainess scream in pain. "PAYBACK TIME, BITCH!" Carol yelled.

"This isn't going good, guys!" Thunderball yelled as he did his best to block all the hits Wolverine, Panther and Black Widow where landing on him.

"GEE, YA THINK?!" Wrecker yelled as he blindly swung at Mockingbird. "I'M FUCKING BLIND IN ONE EYE, FRANKLIN!"

"Everyone, get together, now!" Cap yelled out as he flung his shield, hitting the four empowered humans and the Executioner. The assembled heroes quickly closed ranks and made a passive aggressive formation, ready to both defend and attack in an instant.

"Every minute we spent focused on them, those creatures continue to wreak havoc across the city," Black Panther noted, his daggers ready. "We cannot afford to delay this any longer with millions of lives in danger."

"Agreed," Bobbi agreed, as did the others.

"Then let's stop this already," Logan growled.

"You mortals continue to fight against us...we are your superiors in every way!" Enchantress yelled as she got up. "You cannot hope to stop what is to come!"

"Well, we did just manhandle you all a few seconds ago," Hawkeye grinned, arrows trained on her, Wrecker and Thunderball.

"We are not going to stand down!" Steve said, his shield in his arms. "We will stand against you, no matter the odds, and we will prevail! We're offering you one chance only-call off your attack dogs from destroying the city, and surrender!"

"Never!" Enchantress replied with a yell. "Our invasion cannot be stopped. We shall not surrender. And your power will be mine, mortal!" she added to Wanda. "Executioner!" Skurge, who was helping Piledriver up, took his ax in hand and charged towards the heroes...only to be struck from above by a powerful blue energy blast. With a sonic-like whine, the blast hit Skurge with enough force to send him staggering and slamming back into the ground. Missiles reigned from the skies and exploded on the villain, sending him falling to the ground. With the whine of repulsors, Iron Man, Yellowjacket and Wasp touched down on the ground and joined the others.

"You really should listen to the man," Stark smirked as he readied his repulsors, uni-beam and other weapons. Yellowjacket grew to 10 feet and took up a battle stance while Jan's fists glowed with her stinger energy. Stark then turned to Steve. "Captain."

"Mr. Stark," Cap replied with his own small smirk.

"Hey, Carol and Jess," Wasp said with a smile.

"Hey, Jan," they replied.

"So I'm assuming these guys are the source of what's going on?" Pym asked.

"You betcha, bub," Logan snarled.

"Ready to give up now?" Hulk snarled, cracking his knuckles.

Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer looked at the heroes before them with worry and unease. Executioner was struggling to get up, using his ax for support, and seething rage in his eyes. But everyone was shocked when Amora began laughing...then cackling.

"Oh you silly mortals," she sneered. "You've already lost. I am going to take the witch's powers, but the rest of you...you will suffer a fate worse than death by Dark Elves." In her mind, she relayed a message: "My Lord, I believe we shall make use of our secret weapon, after all."

'_Excellent, my Enchantress.'_

Amora then fired more green magic energy at the ground between her and the other villains &amp; the heroes. It spawned into a portal...a rather large portal. As it rose in height, the heroes readied themselves for whatever would come out. "Today, mortals...you will face destruction incarnate!" Amora yelled.

A metallic echoing rumbling came from the portal. Then, slowly, something lumbered out of it…a rather large, metallic and faceless something. It stood two stories tall, and was completely coated in grey and silver metallic plating. Spikes ran across its spine and knuckles. On its head was no face, but what appeared to be a furnace grate-like visor. With a metallic roar, it lumbered towards the heroes.

"What the hell is that?!" Pietro yelled in shock.

"Some kind of machine," Stark replied. "I got this. JARVIS, scan, ID and search for all mechanics to find a way shut it down."

'Error. Unable to locate any mechanics or machinery within armor. This isn't a machine, sir. It is a living self-sustaining suit of armor,' JARVIS replied.

"Oh...that is not good," Stark said. "Wait, you said it's self-sustaining? As in it moves on its own free will?! I've been trying to create armor like that for months! This is amaz-!"

**FWOOOARRRROOOWWMMM!**

The armor's visor suddenly opened up, and when it did, it shot a devastating blast of flaming energy right at the heroes...specifically the Hulk. To the shock and horror of the heroes, Hulk never stood a chance as he was sent flying dozens of blocks away when the blast hit him. The armor didn't relent until the Hulk was very far away. The Hulk had never felt such a hit; his highly durable skin felt like it was being eaten alive as the energy burned him mercilessly.

"OH MY GOD!" Wanda yelled out.

"Um...that is really not good!" Carol said. "That thing just took out our heaviest gun!"

Amora cackled mercilessly. "Now you shall meet your doom, mortals, at the hands of the Destroyer!"

* * *

_**XXXXX**_

_**TO BE CONTINUED…**_


	4. Assemble! Part 4

Chapter 4: Assemble! Part 4

* * *

***Daily Bugle, Manhattan***

**15:46 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"PARKER!"

"He's not here!"

"THEN WHO THE HELL IS SUPPOSED TO TAKE PHOTOS OF WHAT'S GOING ON OUT THERE?!"

"ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!" Robbie Robertson yelled back. They may have been on the top floor of the building, but that didn't mean there was still a whole bunch of danger. The Daily Bugle rattled and rumbled again as the creatures continued to lay waste to the city. A few of them were bashing into the infrastructure repeatedly, and smashing away with their weapons. Across the entire floor, employees were screeching and screaming and panicking away, terrified for their very lives as the damaged continued to rein across the island of Manhattan. "WE'RE FACING AN INVASION OF GIANT ALIENS AND POSSIBLY THE END OF THE WORLD, AND YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT GETTING PICTURES ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON OF ALL THINGS?! ARE YOU TRYING TO SENT A YOUNG MAN TO HIS DEATH OUT THERE?!"

This made J. Jonah Jameson, editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle and New York's largest advocate against Spider-Man, stop and think for a minute. Sure, he could be mean and a jackass, but he wasn't heartless. Maybe sending a photographer into the carnage out there wasn't exactly the smartest of ideas…

"Sir!" a brunette woman in her early thirties yelled as she came into Jameson's office, cringing at the explosions occurring outside below as the creatures destroyed a bus filled with people and its gas tank exploded.

"What is it, Ms. Brant?!" the editor yelled out.

"I just got a call from Peter's aunt!" Betty Brant replied. "She's watching the news about what's going on and she's horrified! She wants to know if Peter's ok!"

"HOW THE HELL DO I TELL HER I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE HE IS?!" Jameson frantically yelled at Robbie. That old woman terrified him. He was suddenly partly hoping the creatures would find a way up here and kill him.

* * *

***Times Square***

**16:04 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"ANYONE HAVE A PLAN?!" Hawkeye yelled out as he, Natalia, Spider Woman, Iron Man, Wasp and Captain Marvel fired repeatedly at the unstoppable juggernaut lumbering in their direction. As it had been happening for the last twenty minutes, all their combined attacks were completely ineffective as the Destroyer shrugged off the arrows, bullets, bio-sting blasts, photon blasts and repulsor blasts. In retaliation, it fired another blast from its face at the heroes. Stark barely had any time to put up a massive deflector shield, and it barely held up against the blast, the force of impact sending the assembled heroes flying back. As they struggled to get up, Quicksilver raced up and began creating a vortex around the metallic titan as it continued to advance. Going faster and faster and faster, the mutant thought he could successfully entrap the behemoth in the vortex and force it into the air with the suction. That plan completely backfired as the Destroyer unleashed another devastating blast of energy, aiming right at the ground. The explosion completely took the speedster by surprise and he skidded to a stop, and would've been hit with a devastatingly powerful metallic kick if Captain America didn't ram into him, both of them barely escaping the impact. Black Panther, Wolverine and Mockingbird then proceeded to attack with melee techniques, jumping with bo staffs, claws and daggers ready-only to be swatted away like flies as they all crashed into a nearby abandoned bus. Yellowjacket then attacked from behind, grabbing it from behind as he grew to its height, grabbing its arms and trying to force its head down. This backfired completely as the Destroyer somehow turned every joint in its body around so that it was now facing Pym. The scientist barely had time to shrink down to avoid the energy attack meant for his face. Carol and Stark then slammed into the metallic juggernaut, their impact actually managing to force the Destroyer into the ground. They then unleashed devastating hits with his uni-beam and her photon blasts.

All the while, Enchantress was engaged in a vicious magics battle with Scarlet Witch. Hexes, energy blasts, arcane blasts and magical blasts flew left and right as the mutant witch and the Asgardian sorceress continued their relentless attacks against one another. Wanda had much to keep her going-the fate of the city and possibly the world, and her own mutant powers and arcane arts abilities. If this woman was dangerous as she was already, adding her powers to her own would probably spell doom for Earth. With that in mind, the mutant refused to let up. Her hands fired hexes after spells as she did her best to fight off the Enchantress.

Executioner was watching the battles from the side, the four other villains-Wrecker, Piledriver, Bulldozer and Thunderball-by his side. "Shouldn't we be joining in the fight?" Wrecker asked the axeman. Silence was his only answer. "Um...look, man, I know they're getting their asses kicked by your giant robot, but still, maybe we should join in?" Still no answer.

"Screw him, man," Bulldozer said as he walked forward. "Let's just join in! Power of the gods, remember?! We just go in and whoop-!" He was silenced by Skurge's ax in front of him as he tried to pass the Asgardian, threatening to stay back.

"We enter battle," the Executioner snarled, "when we are needed in battle."

"...right, right, got it," Bulldozer said, unnerved by the fact that this guy was able to walk away from a fight with the Hulk. They then were caught by surprise as with a resonating boom, the Destroyer not only got up, but fired its devastating energy attack at Iron Man and Captain Marvel, who barely dodged. In retaliation, they combined their two attacks again and fired at the juggernaut.

"Don't stop, you two!" Steve yelled as he, Hawkeye, Widow and Logan ran over, ready to engage. "We need to keep it off balance to get in more hits!"

"Yeah, I kind of figured that!" Stark yelled back. "Captain Marvel, absorbing energy makes you stronger and your attacks more so, right?"

"Yeah, why?" the heroine yelled.

"Let's see how heavy you can dish out when you absorb my repulsors and uni-beam!" the billionaire replied. Carol smirked.

"Do it!" With that, Stark bombarded the heroine with his energy weapons, and as Carol absorbed the blasts, she felt her body tingling and flowing and gushing with the adrenaline and power. With a yell, she channeled all the energy already in her body and the energy Stark was blasting into her through her hands, and she fired one of the most powerful blasts she had unleashed in her life. The impact sound of the blast echoed for miles as it collided with the Destroyer's armor. The titan staggered back against the sudden force, and for a few moments, the heroes assembled thought they had actually managed to find a way to destroy the Destroyer.

"Holy crap, it's working!" Bobbi yelled.

"JARVIS, increase arc put out by 50%!" Stark ordered. The AI did as instructed and Carol felt even more empowered.

"THIS IS WORKING!" she yelled. "We might actually-!"

"Captain, it's still coming!" Quicksilver yelled suddenly. To her horror, Carol saw he was right. The Destroyer had only been momentarily caught off guard, and now was walking in her direction, ignoring the devastating and enhanced photon blasts as if she were merely shooting water at it.

"Everyone, attack as one!" Iron Man yelled out as he stopped firing on Captain Marvel and fired his weapons at the Destroyer. All the other heroes joined in, whether with ranged or melee attacks. They attacked with a frenzy, but the Destroyer merely shrugged it all off. And it retaliated hard. Another energy blast sent all the heroes flying into the various buildings and cars and such.

"NO!" Wanda yelled out, momentarily distracted by the battle her allies were in, as she watched in horror as they were all sent flying. This was all the distraction that Amora the Enchantress needed as she fired a rather painful blast of magic at her, too quick for the mutant to see until too late. Wanda slammed into a nearby car, crying out in pain.

"Your compassion for the mortals proves to be your downfall, witch," Amora smirked as she sauntered over to Wanda. "You, with such power in your hands, attempting to fit in and aid them...that is why such power doesn't belong in your hands. You will fall before me, and with your power and magics, Lord Loki shall rule not just Midgard, but the entirety of the Nine Realms of the Cosmos!"

"Ow…." Jan groaned as she was helped up by Jessica.

"Is everyone ok?" Stark yelled out.

"We're good here," Logan replied as he, Clint, Natalia and T'Challa got out of the building they crashed in.

"I'm alright…" Steve groaned as he struggled to get back up. He realized his shield wasn't in near proximity. "Ok, we need to regroup and come up with a new-"

"CAP, WATCH OUT!" Pym yelled. Steve immediately looked up to see the unstoppable Destroyer mere feet away from him, lumbering towards him and preparing to fire another devastating blast. He saw that his shield was near a smoking car….15 feet away from him. Even with the Super Soldier serum pumping in his veins, the WWII veteran knew that there was not going to be any way for him to get to it and dodge the blast at the same time. Seeing no other way to save himself, Captain America stared defiantly at the metallic behemoth.

"C'mon, tin can. Do your worst."

The Destroyer prepared to fire….

"HULK SMASH METAL ROBOT!"

**CRAKAKABOOOOMM!**

A thunderous boom rang out as the Hulk jumped back into the fray from the far distance that the Destroyer had shot him to-and he….was...MAD.

Hulk smashed the Destroyer directly into the ground. Unbeknownst to the human heroes, the Destroyer, when forged, was made to withstand any and all blows and impact and force. Its armor was designed to withstand hits from the Goddess of War, from the God of Thunder…even from the All-Father himself. The magic behind the armor made it resilient to just about anything. The Hulk, however, was a being made of science and technology, and the madder Hulk got, the stronger Hulk got...strong enough to actually give the Destroyer a run for its money. The metallic juggernaut sank to its knees, the blows from the Hulk actually making it stagger badly. Hulk continued his brutal and fierce assault, dealing haymaker after haymaker, each blow more earth-shattering than the last. With a roar, he picked it up by the head and threw it right into the Times Square Jumbotron, with an electrifying and thunderous explosion.

Enchantress saw this and straightened up in shock. This was all Wanda needed to get the upper hand and blast Amora in the face with a powerful hex blast. "You will never take my power, and let's get one thing straight," she snarled as she fired more arcane hex blasts. "You're the witch here, not me!"

Executioner twirled his ax. "Now, mortals…now we enter the battle."

"Against HIM?" Thunderball exclaimed, gesturing to the Hulk.

"Do you wish to rule this world by Loki's side?"

"Well, yeah…" Piledriver said.

Skurge's reply was a simply war cry as he leapt at the Hulk once more, slamming the blade into his shoulder. With a ferocious roar, the titan grabbed the Asgardian and slammed him into the ground, only to be bum rushed by Wrecker, Piledriver, Bulldozer and Thunderball.

"OH, COME ON!" Hawkeye yelled with his trademark complaint. "Again, our biggest gun gets taken out of the fight-!"

**FRABOOM!**

The other heroes turned in shock as the Destroyer jumped down from the Jumbotron remains onto the streets. It raised its faceless head at them, and the visor began to glow orange again. They barely managed to get out of the way as it unleashed its hell, destroying the central area of Times Square.

"So, this looks like this is going bad!" Wasp yelled out as she swiftly fired her stingers, to no avail.

"No kidding!" Mockingbird yelled back as she, Hawkeye and Cap stuck their heads out from their cover position. "Nothing we through at this thing seems to work! We can't hurt it!"

"Stow that talk, Bobbi!" Steve replied. "We need to find a way-we have to! If we fail to stop them here, these things could spread out across the country, and then the globe! We make our stand here!"

"Captain, we're not arguing that," Stark replied as he flew into the air, charging his uni-beam. "But we're doing everything we can to bring this thing down-!" Stark then fired his uni-beam, which didn't even faze the Destroyer. It fired its energy blasts at the armored hero, who flew away just in time. "But everything we throw at it just bounces right back off! I still can't even analyze what kind of metal this thing is made out of or try to stop it! It's even stronger than vibranium and adamantium!"

"Rich boy's right," Logan snarled as he again unleashed his claws. "My claws ain' makin' any kinda dent on that thing."

"Neither are my vibranium claws or daggers," Panther added.

"The only one of us actually able to do something to it is the Hulk, and he's kind of busy right now!" Carol said, pointing at the Hulk facing the five supervillains. "We need to lead it away from here-too much damage to the area! Not to mention that Scarlet Witch is still fighting the blonde witch over theeeeeEEEEAAAAAAUUUUGHHHHH!"

"CAROL!" Jessica yelled out as Captain Marvel, one of the most powerful superhumans on the planet, was devastated by a direct hit from the Destroyer's energy blast. Carol's screams and roars of pain were like nothing any of them had heard before, almost feral like. The force and monstrous blast of the impact sent the heroine flying into the streets, a crater forming from her impact as the Destroyer continued to unleash its energy attack on her. Logan had to restrain Spider Woman from racing onto the scene herself. The Destroyer continued, and soon, Carol's screams grew weaker and weaker until they stopped completely. The others couldn't see anything as smoke billowed from the crater, right from where Captain Marvel had been slammed. The others were shocked and stunned at the spectacle before them….until-

"TAKE IT DOWN!" Captain America and Iron Man yelled out, and at that, the other heroes rushed forward, unadulterated fury in their eyes. Their opponent had felled one of their own, and that would not go unpunished, no matter what. Iron Man fired his repulsors in unison with Wasp and Spider Woman's stinger blasts. Logan and Panther sliced away with their claws. Captain America and Mockingbird slammed their melee weapons into the Destroyer's head. Hawkeye and Black Widow fired volley after volley of arrows and bullets. Quicksilver dealt a merciless vortex of high velocity, momentum empowered punches. Yellowjacket dealt powerful haymakers and right hooks at the titan's back.

Everything just bounced off.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Wolverine roared. Suddenly, the Destroyer turned and blasted Iron Man right into Yellowjacket, Spider Woman and Quicksilver. Another blast was aimed at the other three SHIELD agents, blocked only by Cap's shield. The Destroyer then made to fire one more powerful blast-

**KRAPOW!**

A mighty punch echoed out for miles as the Destroyer was actually sent flying into the skies, its blast going wild and hitting the perch where the ball would be at New Year's. The impact went for miles. The heroes turned to the source…and were all shocked as before them stood a Captain Marvel billowing with smoke and full on glowing with every inch of her body. The most energy glow came from her fists, which actually were giving a bit of heat and a great deal of light. Her eyes were no longer visible, with only white light coming from it. On her face was a grin, and a very devious grin at that.

"Whoa…" Hawkeye muttered.

"Carol?" Jess asked, making to come forward before Stark stopped her.

"Captain Marvel," he asked. "Are you ok?"

"Am I ok?!" Carol yelled in glee as she flew up into the air. "I HAVEN'T FELT LIKE THIS SINCE I WAS BINARY! That blasts has so much energy in it-it's fucking AMAZING! I've never felt this strong for years!" Indeed, the all-powerful energy blasts of the Destroyer had not done any harm to Carol at all, except for the initial impact of force. On the contrary, her body started to absorb the energy, and as it surged through her body, it was as if Carol had drunk an entire tub of adrenaline. "I feel like I can take on the entire Kree army a hundred times over!"

"Well, how about the next best thing?!" Captain America replied as the Destroyer jumped down from where it had been blasted. It landed with a monstrous boom and as it got up, it looked again towards the heroes.

Carol grinned evilly. "Oh, yeah, baby."

**FAKRAKABOOM!**

Captain Marvel slammed right into the Destroyer, sending it crashing through the ground, past the subways and into the sewage system, dealing haymaker after haymaker. Grabbing it by the neck, she then threw it into the skies through the hole both had made and fired a barrage of newly empowered and devastating photon blasts that hit the Destroyer with a powerful boom. Flying faster, she out sped the flying form of the titan and once it was close enough, she dealt a devastating ax kick, sending it smashing into the ground with a resonating boom.

"I'll handle the Destroyer!" Carol yelled to her allies as she dealt a combo of right hooks and face punches. "Help Hulk!" As the others did just that, she turned in time to receive another energy blast to the face. This time, however, she absorbed it outright and flew through the energy and right into the Destroyer and dealt a roundhouse kick to its face. "Oh, you just made it even worse for yourself!"

Amora was stupefied by the spectacle before her; merely moments ago, the mortals were being annihilated by the Destroyer. All of a sudden, the tables had been turned. The flying female with the star on her chest had somehow absorbed the Destroyer's attacks and her power increased, allowing her to actually stand against it as Thor or Odin would. No mortal was supposed to do such a thing! Their weapon's power was being used against it and-!

"AAUGHHH!"

"Word of advice, Enchantress," Scarlet Witch snarled as she hit the Asgardian with a devastating hex blasts, sending her onto her knees in pain. "Do not turn your back on an opponent much stronger than you!"

"You dare insult me?!" Amora spat back as she fired a magic blast.

Wanda smirked back as she easily blocked the attack and retaliated with her own arcane hex blast. Amora screams in pain as she was sent flying into a nearby car. "From what I see, I think I am clearly the better of us!"

Hulk, meanwhile, had been barely holding his own against the combined might of Executioner, Wrecker, Piledriver, Bulldozer and Thunderball. The only thing keeping him through the fight was his ever increasing strength as his anger increased as well. The fact that Wrecker was also half blind also helped out, too. His hits were harder and harder with each passing moment; no matter how strong you are, though, one on five isn't the kind of odds you'd want in a fight. Luckily, Hulk wasn't alone.

"Need a hand, Jade Jaws!?" Hawkeye yelled as he and the others joined into the fray. He fired an explosive arrow right at Skurge's hand. The explosion shook the ax out of it, allowing Hulk to take advantage of the momentary surprise and punch the villain in the face, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Jade Jaws?" Hulk replied.

"Just thought of it right now!" Hawkeye grinned.

"Sounds stupid," Hulk said.

"Oh like you could do better!"

"How about Cupid?" Hulk smirked.

"Ok, now that's low," Clint muttered.

"You didn't complain last night," Bobbi teased as she and Cap dodged a hit from Thunderball, allowing Iron Man to blast him.

"OK, guys, not the best time!" Cap yelled. "Hulk, you handle the axe man while we take these goons off your back!"

"That makes things a lot easier," Hulk replied. "Now...HULK SMASH!" With that, and a roar of power, Hulk slammed his two fists into the back of the Executioner, forcing him onto the ground. The villain quickly retaliated with a sweep kick, and once more the titans began another all-out battle.

Logan sunk his claws into the back of Piledriver, enticing an agonizing scream of pain from the villain. Before he could try to pull away the mutant, however, Spider Woman and Wasp unleashed a barrage of bio-sting in Piledriver's face. Blinded, he blindly threw wild punches, hoping to hit something, as the two femme fatales dished out more and more hits. Logan continued to hack and slash away at his back, making the villains cry out in pain even more.

Thunderball, meanwhile, was slammed into the ground by Yellowjacket's enlarged fist and then whacked repeatedly by Mockingbird's bo staffs and Captain America's shield. No matter what, his wrecking ball never got in close enough proximity to hit the two normal sized humans. Enraged, he threw it at Pym, who caught it and slammed it back into his face.

Wrecker, still blind, was unable to fully fight as he couldn't see to his left side. Blindly swinging, he was easy picking for Iron Man's repulsors, Black Widow's bullets &amp; stingers, and Quicksilver's punches.

Bulldozer's bruiser like bulk was no match for the agility of Black Panther and Hawkeye. With their smaller size, they were easily able to dodge each and every one of the villain's fists and punches and kicks (especially Hawkeye, who didn't want a repeat of what had happened not too long ago). Arrows and claws and daggers attacked in rapid succession, exploding and slashing and burning on the villain's body, as he got more and more enraged, further making his attacks blinder.

All the while, Hulk was decimating Executioner one haymaker at a time, while Captain Marvel was holding her own against the Destroyer, forcing on the defensive with each hit she landed, finally landing a powerful enough hit that it sent the behemoth flying dozens of blocks away.

Amora the Enchantress saw all this and her mouth was agape. Struggling to get up from Scarlet Witch's latest blast, she couldn't believe her eyes. These mortals were defeating them. If they fell, the Jotun would be next, and then their invasion would fail...she would fail...she had already failed… It was shameful to her, losing to such worms as these humans.

"Forgive me, my Lord," Amora muttered as she relayed her words to her master. "I have failed you…"

"_No Amora...you have not failed me...you have simply given me weary opponents to destroy. You have proven yourself a most dedicated follower. But your quest for this wench's power blinded you."_

"My Lord?"

"_Do not fret, my lovely Enchantress...I shall deal with these mortals, and obtain the witch's power for the both of us. Today, they shall know the true power of chaos and mischief."_

"Ready to surrender now, bitch?" Wanda said, her hands glowing with hex energy and pointed at Amora. She was sure she had beaten the sorceress. So she was utterly shocked when Amora began laughing.

"On the contrary, mortal," Enchantress sneered as the clouds above began rumbling. "It is you and your allies who shall fall!"

**SCREAKABOOMM!**

Green lightning struck the ground, stopping all fights as the heroes and villains turned to see just what was happening. The lightning continued to crackle and rumble, and within its light and where it met with the ground, a figure started to become visible. What unnerved the heroes, however, was the laughter...it was a maniacal and sinister laughter, one fit for the Devil himself. The laughter echoed for blocks around, sending chills in the spines of the four human villains. Suddenly, the lightning dispersed with a boom, leaving behind a green aura. The figure was now clearly visible, and now they could all see that the laugher was coming from him. It was a man...or something that at least had a man's appearance, for could a man show off that much power? He wore a golden helmet with curved horns with long &amp; shiny sleek black hair on his head. Adorning his body was a green and golden armor jacket/cloak fusion outfit with fabric here and there, and golden gauntlets on his wrists. Underneath the outer wear was an all-black armor and leather outfit, shirt and pants, and his boots were also black. From his back billowed a long emerald green cape, and in one hand was a golden sceptre with a glowing blue jewel at the tip, giving off a plasma feel to it. What stuck out most, however, was the fact that he looked absolutely gorgeous. He was definitely a prime example of male physical beauty, which made Black Widow, Mockingbird, Spider Woman, Wasp, Scarlet Witch and Captain Marvel extra wary-they knew it was villains that looked like this that were the most dangerous.

And he continued to cackle and laugh maniacally.

"NOW, MORTALS, YOU WILL FACE TRUE POWER AND CHAOS, AND YOU WILL FALL BEFORE THE POWER OF LOKI, GOD OF MISCHIEF!"

* * *

***Park Avenue &amp; East 2nd Street, Lower Manhattan***

**16:12 EST May 4, 2012**

* * *

"How many injured?" her superior officer asked as she tightened her makeshift bandage over her arm gash.

"About seven," Carlie Cooper replied as she reloaded her gun with a fresh cartridge. "Gomez and Jason are tending to them now. We lost Tyson and Javeric, though." She lowered her head at the mention of those names, names of fallen comrades and brethren on the force. "They were good cops, Sergeant...they didn't deserve to die like that."

"I know, Cooper, but we can't dwell on that now," her sergeant replied, a pained expression forming on his face as he said it. "I wish we could take a moment, but we're at war right now, something I'd never thought I'd be saying as a cop. We need to keep focus on what's happening now...and that means getting anyone we find to safety and doing our jobs and protecting the innocent." He then turned to see the unconscious and webbed up forms of the Frost Giants littering the streets. "Each of us in our own way, and the best we can."

Carlie followed the man's gaze and smirked softly to herself, despite still upset over the death of two of her buddies. Peter definitely had done his part in going up against this invasion. Sure, he didn't have to come and help, being that there were so many other people in the city who needed more help than them. But he had arrived nonetheless, just when they were about to be slaughtered by the Jotun, overpowered, outnumbered and outmatched. With SHIELD and the US military still nowhere nearby, it had been up to the police to face these invaders, them and any superheroes who had joined in the fight. Daredevil was apparently defending Hell's Kitchen; the Punisher was out there joining in, too, from what she had heard; the Fantastic Four were apparently not even on Earth at the moment. She was sure that some of the other local vigilantes were out there fighting too. Radio chatter confirmed a bunch of heroes had gathered in Times Square, fighting something else that had to do with the invasion. At least they had help in fighting off this attack, Carlie mused to herself. Peter was definitely not going to stand by and not do anything; it just wasn't like him to do that. She remembered how he had arrived, swinging through the city helping anyone he found and fighting off the creatures, and fought with her and the other cops on her unit against these things, webbing them and punching them. He felt he had to protect these people...and he did, because it was what he both had to do and needed to do. He had a responsibility to keep going, no matter what the cost or price, and he was going to fulfill that responsibility. She remembered their brief conversation before he had gone off.

"_How're your hands?"_

"_They're fine…ok fine, they still hurt...stop giving me the look."_

"_Then stop lying to me...that's why we broke up remember?"_

"_It's the end of the world and you're bringing up THAT?" he smirked._

"_Ok, maybe not," she replied. "You're still going to go out there?"_

"_I have to...it's what I do. If not me, then who?"_

"_There are other heroes."_

"_Even they can't be everywhere at once."_

"_You know, sometimes, I wonder if things would be different if you stopped being Spider-Man."_

"_You know I won't stop. With great power must come great responsibility."_

She hated that he had lied to her in the "Spider Island" Incident, and she hated that he had deceived her about his life...but Carlie understood her ex for it. And it made being mad a bit harder to do.

"You're right, Sarge," she said as she took another gun. A green flash of lightning burst through the skies, descending in the distance somewhere in Midtown Manhattan. Carlie knew Peter had been heading in that direction. He'd probably go right for it. Hopefully, he'd survive it. "We each got to do our part."

* * *

***Times Square***

**16:12 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Ok…" Hawkeye said as he aimed an arrow. "Who is THAT?!"

"Who cares?!" Hulk snarled. "Let's just smash him!"

"At ease, Hulk," Captain America cautioned. "We don't know anything about this joker."

"Joker?" the man in emerald &amp; gold armor said in feigned hurt. "You sting me with your words, mortal. I am not a joker...I am a trickster. There is a well-defined difference. And as to your other question...I am Loki, Norse God of Mischief and the rightful heir to the throne of Asgard...and I am burdened with glorious purpose."

"Egoistic much?" Wasp muttered.

"Why the hell are you here?" Iron Man demanded, his repulsors at the ready and JARVIS trying to scan anything from this...Loki. "Why are you invading our world?"

"I come with glad tidings, mortal," Loki replied. "Of a world made free."

"Free from what, exactly?" Quicksilver snapped.

"Life's greatest lie...freedom. It is a plague upon your world. Once you accept that, then in your heart, you will know peace. I have come to bring you that peace. I am your savior...as well as the one who will conquer your world."

"So to bring peace, you begin war?" Captain Marvel snarled. "You expect us to grovel at your feet?!"

"Of course, wench," Loki sneered. "You are weak, pathetic creatures, unfit for anything. You are below the attention of all the nine realms. You slaughter each other by the thousands, all in a mad bid for power. Is submission not your natural state? You worms were made to be ruled. In the end, when this is over, and I stand victorious over you...you shall kneel and know submission."

"Not as long as we're still alive, pal," Cap retorted.

"An obstacle easily remedied," Loki replied. With a rapid flowing movement, he pointed his sceptre at the heroes. Instantly, a devastating blast of blue energy shot out from it, and it was very powerful. The blast sent the heroes flying, and flying far.

"Ok, he's got a shiny and shooting glow stick of destiny!" Stark yelled as he began firing a merciless barrage of repulsor blasts at Loki. To his shock, Loki simply disappeared and the blasts hit nothing.

'WARNING, ATTACK COMING FROM THE REAR, SIR!' JARVIS said, but it was too late. Loki had reappeared floating behind Stark and blasted him with a devastating arcane blast from his hands, sending the armored hero crashing down to the ground. An arrow suddenly flew at Loki, but the Norse God simply caught it inches from his face and threw it at a leaping Wolverine, and it exploded upon impact, sending the mutant crashing down to the pavement. Bullets, stings and daggers bombarded the Trickster, but again, he disappeared, only to reappear by the attackers. He grabbed Natalia by the hair and threw her into Panther, sending them both flying into the nearby theater. Spider Woman tried to land a punch, only for him to sidestep out of the way and have her crashing into a charging Hawkeye. To Wasp he fired another arcane blast and sent her crashing into Logan, who had just gotten back up. Captain America then charged with his shield, only for Loki to use his sceptre to smack it out of his hands. Cap still went on undeterred and delivered a right hook, which did absolutely nothing. Loki then grabbed Steve by the throat and slammed him into the ground. Grabbing his sceptre, he rammed it into his neck, keeping him down.

"Yield...and kneel before me," Loki commanded.

"Not today!" the Sentinel of Liberty yelled defiantly as he sweep kicked the villain, sending him staggering back enough for Mockingbird to deliver a ram to his head with her bo staffs. "Take this joker down, team!" Cap yelled, delivering a jumping snap kick to Loki.

"My genuine pleasure!" Barton yelled back as he fired five explosive arrows at Loki's back, joined by Natalia's stingers.

"HAHAHAHA!" Loki cackled. "IS THAT REALLY THE BEST YOU CAN-?!" He was interrupted by a slash to the face, courtesy of Wolverine's claws.

"More where that came from, bub," the mutant snarled.

"You dare strike your master?!" Loki roared. With strength that it didn't appear he had, Loki backhanded Logan right into Stark, who had just gotten up. "You think you mortals can stand against me?! I am a god, you dull pathetic creatures! I will not be hassled by-!"

**POW POW POW-POW POW!**

"You talk too much," Hulk snarled as he finished smashing Loki into the ground.

"Oh on the contrary, you brutish monster," Loki sneered as he got up, revealing that he wasn't harmed at all. "Talking is an art to be mastered." In a blink of an eye, the one Loki became dozens more, illusions that took Hulk by utter surprise. "Now, can you even try to find the real Trickster?" Loki taunted, but it seemed like his voice was coming from all directions. "As my voice echoes across the illusions, you cannot ever hope to try and find where I truly am, brutish oaf."

The Hulk looked confused for a few moments, then sneered. With a thunderous boom, he unleashed a resonating thunderclap, destroying all the illusions with the sonic waves-only for the real Loki to appear from behind and blast the Hulk with his sceptre. While the Hulk went flying, Pym managed to land in a good sucker punch on Loki and made to slam him down into the ground, but Loki turned at the last second and blasted the giant directly in the face with an arcane blast, enticing a cry of pain as Yellowjacket came toppling down. Iron Man then tackled Loki, managing to crash into the ground, and flying off with uni-beam blast. Loki fired both his sceptre and his arcane blasts at Stark, sending him flying into the Jumbotron remains. Loki was then hit with an abandoned bus, courtesy of Captain Marvel. Black Panther then tried to jump onto the Trickster but was grabbed mid leap and thrown into a charging Wolverine. Captain Marvel made to land an axe kick, but Loki disappeared again, appearing again to grab her and throw her into the skies. Bullets again sprayed in his direction, as did bio-stings, and in retaliation, Loki threw a volley of glistening daggers, forcing Wasp and Spider Woman to dodge, but a dagger managed to nick Black Widow in the shoulder. With a roar, Hulk charged and made to ram a haymaker into Loki's mouth-only for the Trickster to grab his fist mid-punch, causing a resonating boom to echo out.

"Stupid creature," Loki sneered. "You may be an incredibly strong monster, but do you honestly believe you can stand and fight with a god?!" Loki then hit the Hulk with his own fist, sending the titan staggering back-only for Hulk to backhand Loki into the skies, right into Captain Marvel's fist. Unfortunately, as he was falling, Loki again disappeared, only to reappear above Carol and whack her with his sceptre. Landing while the heroine crashed, Loki fired another barrage of magic blasts and an oncoming Iron Man. Suddenly, Loki was repeatedly punched and hit with an incredibly fast combo of punches, signaling that Quicksilver had now engaged the Trickster. Loki simply stuck out a dagger, and it cut along Pietro's thigh, enticing a scream as he was forced to slow down in pain, allowing Loki to blast him with his sceptre. This only earned him a painful blast of arcane hex energy, and Loki finally brought his attention to the Scarlet Witch.

"So...you are the witch that the Enchantress saw unlimited power within," he mused. "I must agree, the magics within you...they are powerful indeed, truly fit for me."

"You're insane if you think I'll let you take my powers," Wanda snarled, her fists glowing with hex energy as hex spheres and chaos fields formed around her. "I just wiped the floor with your blonde skank. You'll be no problem."

"Ha! My powers surpass that of Karnilla! How can you hope to stand against me?!"

"With a friend," Wanda smirked with a wink before unleashing her attack. Loki barely had time to turn around to see Captain Marvel (still souped up from the blasts of the Destroyer) fire her photon blasts at him at the same time. In an instant, the place where Loki stood was consumed by a devastatingly powerful explosion of energy and hex magic that rang out for miles. Once the smoke cleared, there was nothing left.

"Did we get him?" Carol asked.

"I'm afraid not," Loki taunted as he teleported again by the Enchantress, who by now had recovered to full strength. Executioner had also recovered, as had the Wrecker, Piledriver, Bulldozer and Thunderball.

"Oh, come on!" Wanda yelled out.

"I must admit, these mortals aren't as worthy opponents as you let on, Amora," Loki remarked.

"I advise you not to be so quick to judge, milord," Enchantress replied. "They are truly formidable foes, worthy of the tales that Thor would boast of."

"Do not mention my oaf of a brother, Amora...we are in victory, so I would rather it not be spoiled."

"Is...ow...is everyone ok?" Stark groaned as he got up. "JARVIS?"

'Armor repairs are in progress.'

"We're good here…" Bobbi called out as she and Clint helped up T'Challa.

"But same ain' gonna be said for Golden Horns," Logan snarled.

"Logan, easy," Steve said. "This guy just mopped the floor with all of us; especially you, Captain Marvel and the Hulk, and you three are our biggest guns."

"Actually, you're forgettin' Wanda."

"Me?" she gasped as she helped Pietro up.

"You were one of Magneto's strongest members back when you were Brotherhood. You can manipulate probability, yeah?"

"Well, yes."

"Then consider yourself one of our biggest guns," Stark said as he readjusted his visor.

"Let's go smash him," Hulk snarled.

"I'm not through with this rush I have yet," Carol grinned, her body still flowing with the Destroyer's energy.

"They gather again," Skurge stated.

"Indeed," Loki mused. "Amora, find Ymir. Tell him...we have prepared him a welcoming gift. Bring these new loyal servants of ours with you. You four have proven your loyalty, and as such…" Loki waved his hand and Wrecker's eye was enveloped in green energy, healed as soon as it dispersed. "Now go, and continue to earn your rightful place in this world."

"Oh, man, thanks, Loki, sir!" Wrecker exclaimed. "We won't fail you, we swear." And with a puff of green arcane smoke, Enchantress, Skurge and the four empowered villains vanished, leaving Loki alone against the assembled heroes.

"Now...do you really believe you can attempt to best me as second time?" he smirked, his staff glowing. "After I humbled you the first time?"

"Hulk, take the front," Carol ordered. "Logan and I come from the sides. Then we all jump for Wanda to give him hell." She paused for a second. "Logan, any blasts and you deflect."

"Got it," Logan said.

"Ok…" Wanda said.

"Time to smash," Hulk sneered.

"The rest of us, we get ready to jump in if things go south," Captain America said. The other heroes got together to be ready.

"BOW BEFORE ME!" Loki yelled, firing his sceptre.

"LOGAN!" Captain Marvel yelled. At that, Wolverine dashed forward and deflected the blast with his claws. As he did, Hulk then charged at Loki and landed a powerful punch right to the face, sending Loki flying into the nearby supersized McDonalds. Wolverine and Captain Marvel raced after him and as Loki was getting up, he saw them coming and with a smirk teleported right in front of them to catch them off guard. They were expecting this, however, and Logan's claws lashed out and drew blood from Loki's cheek. Carol's fist connected in an uppercut. "WANDA, NOW!" she yelled. At that, she, Logan and Hulk got out of the mutant's way, which was good being that Wanda had spent the last 15 seconds charging up a very powerful cyclone of hex spheres and her fists were pumping with arcane blasts. Loki managed to get himself up in time to see this.

"WELCOME TO EARTH, ASSHOLE!" Wanda yelled as she unleashed her hexes and arcane blasts, throwing them at the Trickster. Loki was seemingly about to get blasted to Kingdom Come, and appeared frozen in place-

Until he smirked.

With a raised hand, Loki met the oncoming onslaught head on. His hand began glowing green, and as Wanda's attacks approached Loki, his hand glowed even brighter as the massive attack bombarded him...yet did nothing. Loki absorbed the entire brunt of Wanda's attack. The heroes stood flabbergasted.

"No…" Wanda murmured, shocked to her core. "That's not possible…no one has ever done that…"

"Ahhhh, yes!" Loki laughed as he prepared his own attack. "Amora was right-that is very potent magic, indeed! With that power, I can truly and easily conquer the entirety of the Nine Realms! Not even Odin will be able to stand against me! Now...let us see how powerful this magic is….when under the command of the God of Mischief!" Loki fired his sceptre and his own arcane blasts, both enhanced greatly by the power Loki absorbed through Wanda's arcane hexes. The blasts sent them all flying back. "YOUR POWER NOW BELONGS TO ME, WITCH!" Loki screamed in sinister glee. "AND YOU SHALL DELIVER IT UNTO ME!"

"Wanda!" Quicksilver yelled as Loki attacked his sister. Instinct drilled in for almost 20 years kicked in as he sped right into Loki, delivering rapid blows at the Norse God, but Loki would not be deterred and simply blasted him away.

"Everyone, PROTECT SCARLET WITCH!" Iron Man and Captain America yelled in unison. At once, all the other heroes attacked as one, unrelenting and unfaltering. Each of them was the best at what they were skilled in. Each was a powerful hero in their own right. They had rightfully earned the titles of heroes.

But even heroes fall.

They were merely humans-genius humans, mutant humans, half-alien humans, near all-powerful humans...but they were still human.

Loki...was a god.

**SCREWAAAAAAAOOOOMMMM!**

With a devastating blast from his sceptre, Loki sent the heroes flying back. "Why do you persist?!" he laughed. "I HAVE BESTED YOU, AND I WILL TAKE THIS WORLD AND THEN ALL THE NINE REALMS! I AM YOUR GOD AND RULER! KNEEL BEFORE ME!"

"Never!" Wanda yelled as she again fired a hex blast, only to miss. Loki then grabbed her by the throat.

"You fought well for a mortal, wench, but this was always the outcome! Now, deliver your power unto me!" Loki's hands began glowing, and Wanda felt something violating her very inner being...it felt like something was moving in there that shouldn't even be there. It was as if something was ripping out her very essence. It was too painful to bear, and Wanda soon began screaming and squirming in pain. "Yes…YES!" Loki laughed. "The power...It is mine-!"

"LET GO OF HER!" Carol yelled as she delivered a vicious uppercut on Loki, sending him crashing and flying back. "Wanda, are you ok?"

"I'm...fine...just need to…" the mutant gasped. The sensations were still rattling her. "Captain Marvel, look out!" Carol turned and barely managed to dodge Loki's arcane blasts. Unfortunately, the blast managed to hit an unprepared Iron Man.

"AAAAAUUUGHHH!"

'Warning, armor power source rapidly decreasing. All weapons are offline. Power source temporarily compromised. Flight capabilities compromised.'

"Stark!" Pym yelled as he, Hawkeye and Cap dashed for him.

"Accept the truth, mortals!" Loki sneered. "I am invincible! You cannot hope to stop me!" He quickly fired another magic blast at a jumping Hulk, sending him flying into the 42nd Street subway station.

"Captain Marvel!" Cap yelled. "Keep him away from Wanda!"

"MY PLEASURE!" Carol roared. She still was pumped from the attacks of the Destroyer ("This sure doesn't wear off!"), and she was still itching for a fight. With a war cry, she bum rushed Loki and with incredible speeds, raced off into the skies with him, dealing and dishing all forms of hits and kicks that she had learned in her time as an USAF pilot and as a member of Fury's Warriors. The power flowed through her, unrelenting, and Carol followed up the hits with photon blasts, attacking mercilessly with everything in her arsenal. Higher and higher she hit Loki, both now going past 2500ft in the skies. "FACE IT, LOKI! YOU CAN'T BEAT US! NO MATTER WHAT, WE'LL STOP YOU! AND WITH THE POWER OF THE DESTROYER IN ME, I CAN TAKE YOU JUST AS-!"

She was interrupted with a vicious hit with the sceptre's head and then blasted with an arcane blast. Surprised and rattled, she was easy picking as Loki grabbed her by the throat and started squeezing. "You pathetic feeble minded fool! You truly believe you had the better of me just now? I LET you bring me up here! You are a very formidable opponent...but how formidable would you be as a mere powerless human?!" With that, Loki unleashed a devastating blast of arcane magic, chanting in a language unknown to Carol, who was too busy screaming in pain to notice. It was as if something was being ripped away from inside of her. She didn't know what was going on, but all she could register was the pain. Then, it suddenly subsided. She suddenly, however, realized she felt fear. Why? She couldn't feel the energy in her body. She couldn't feel her flight…she found herself with a shortness of breath.

Loki had neutralized her powers.

"Now, this is where I say goodbye," he sneered. "You powers will return, do not fret...but you won't live long enough for them to." And with that, he teleported away...leaving Captain Marvel to plummet to her demise.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"OH MY GOD!" Wasp yelled as she and the others saw what had happened from below.

"CAROL!" Jessica yelled out in horror.

"STARK, FLY UP THERE!" Cap ordered.

"I can't-my flight is messed up!"

"I can try to-!" Wanda began.

"No," Loki sneered as he reappeared beside her. "You, wench, are coming with me!" And with that, they both vanished.

"WANDA!" Pietro screamed in horror.

"This is not good…" Hawkeye said.

"YA THINK?!" Logan replied.

"Oh my god...CAROL!" Jessica yelled, starting to fly up before Natalia and Bobbi stopped her.

"Drew, you can't! You won't-!"

"I CAN'T JUST LET HER DIE!"

"Wait-what is that?!" Pym yelled, pointing up. They all looked up to see a figure in the distance near the top of one of the buildings, crawling up at a remarkable speed. They could just make out the red and blue of his body. The figure reached the top of the tower he was scaling and looked up at the rapidly falling form of Captain Marvel. He then jumped back off the tower, but not before firing two web lines at said tower and the one across from it. Down he plummeted, the webs stretching as he did.

"Is he-?!" Stark said.

The figure then catapulted right into the skies, heading straight for the heroine plummeting to her doom.

"Yep, he is," Logan smirked.

Meanwhile, Carol was still screaming as she fell faster and faster. This couldn't be the end, she desperately thought. It just couldn't be! There was still so much she had wanted to do with her life, so much she had yet to accomplish! She couldn't go out like this! Not like this! So much left undone, so much left unsaid, so much left-wait...'What the hell-?!' she realized as she saw a red and blue clad figure flying right towards her...

The heroes below were in awe as the figure in red and blue caught Captain Marvel. Now both were plummeting down towards Earth. But once they were close enough to the tower skylines, the figure shot another line of webbing and one of the towers, latching on and holding tightly, he got himself and Carol into a rapid swing, both now heading for the other assembled heroes. Once they were close enough, they could all see clearly who had saved their ally. He wore red &amp; blue spandex which was slightly tattered at moment, and he wore a full face mask with large white eye lenses. On his chest was a black spider insignia.

Wolverine knew him as Peter Parker.

The other heroes-and the rest of the world-knew him only as the Amazing Spider-Man, the modern world's first true superhero.

* * *

_**XXXXX**_

_**TO BE CONTINUED...**_


	5. Assemble! Part 5

Chapter 5: Assemble! Part 5

* * *

***Lexington Avenue &amp; 53****rd**** Street, Manhattan. A Few Minutes Earlier…***

**16:26 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Frosty the Snowman-!"

**POW!**

**BOOMM!**

"…REALLY isn't such a jolly and happy soul, after all," Spider-Man quipped as he landed on the unconscious form of the Jotun he had just knocked out. He suddenly heard a roar from behind him, and turned to see a bunch more of the blue snow giants lumbering towards him, weapons in hand. He instantly turned to the woman and her little boy that he had just saved.

"GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" he yelled. They didn't need telling twice, and they instantly headed for a nearby E &amp; 6 train station, where two SWAT officers were waiting to bring them in for their protection. Now with them out of the way, Peter could focus his attention on dealing with the threats. Firing a web line that connected onto a charging Jotun's chest, he rammed his feet into the large creature, forcing him to topple onto the ground. Webbing its arms to the pavement to keep it from moving again, he then jumped into the air and fired balls of webbing at the Jotun, further enraging them.

"Look, guys, in case you haven't noticed, it isn't Christmas yet, and I'm pretty sure ol' Saint Nick would very much disapprove of your behavior right now!" the Webhead quipped.

"Why does this human not be silent!?" one of the Frost Giants yelled in anger as he swung at Peter, only to miss. "All the other humans on Midgard flee before us!"

"Holy crap, you guys DO talk!" Peter yelled as he webbed the weapons out of their hands with many shots of his webs. He threw them to the ground a good number of yards away, no longer able to be used. "In that case, I got to ask…" And at that, the arachnid jumped at the creature and began to deal out punches and kicks. "What's the jolly man himself like? You guys still upset about the 'No More Snow' thing from the cartoons? What's up with the blue? I though you guys were supposed to be white and where's the magic hat that made you guys come to life?"

Peter continued to spit out random questions and Frosty references until this particular group of Jotun was all knocked unconscious. Leaping onto the body of one and webbing them all to the street, he yelled out, "And that ends out Radio City Frosty Special Edition Christmas Spectacular!" He then realized his fists and hands were killing him. Sure, he was durable, but putting out that level of strength when he was so used to restraining himself…. "Ow…Carlie was right."

Suddenly, he saw a massive green lightning bolt descend from the heavens to another part of the city. Being the science geek he was, he knew that it wasn't natural lightning…meaning this may have had to do with whatever was going on. "Looks like you'll have to check it out, Parker," Peter mused to himself. He was currently near the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street, around the Lower East Side. He checked his web shooters, seeing that he still had quite a bit of webbing left, and even if he ran out, he had a few spare cartridges on a belt under his costume near the waist line. With that, he shot a web line and swung off towards where the lightning, now gone, had descended. As he swung along, he couldn't take his eyes away from the chaos below him. Everywhere, these giant blue creatures were causing destruction, and the police were doing everything they could to fight back, not matter how bad it was against them. Being the ever responsible hero, he'd jump down and land a punch or a kick or a web shot to help the cops out and bring a Frosty wannabe down, but he knew he couldn't stand against them all. He continued on to his destination. It was absolute chaos around here.

"Where the heck is Nick Fury &amp; SHIELD when you need them?"

As he got closer to his destination, he could hear the massive echoes of punches and kicks and explosions. What was going on over there? As Peter got to the Chrysler Building, he realized the source was coming from the direction of Times Square…still a good number of blocks away from his current location. Another thunderous boom came from that direction, and he could see a tower top exploding, along with a few flashes of light, presumably energy blasts.

"Well, I've always been itching to try this again," Peter muttered with a small smirk. Stretching his hands out, he shot two long web lines to a building a few other buildings over. He then jumped off the Chrysler and once he fell enough of a distance, the webbing snagged and catapulted him towards Times Square. More booms rang out, and louder, as he soared through the air. In just a few seconds, he landed on a building near the square, and just as he landed, something raced into the heavens. Two somethings, actually.

Captain Marvel was mercilessly pulverizing some guy in fantasy armor as they both went higher into the air. She was glowing brightly and yelling furiously. Peter couldn't help but watch, momentarily taken aback, watching them get higher and higher. Peter had always had a fan boy crush on the heroine (what straight male wouldn't?) and had seen her around the city on his patrols since she came onto the scene as Ms. Marvel a few years back. He had always wondered what had happened in those two years she had disappeared before reemerging as Ms. Marvel again…only to changer her moniker a few months later to Captain Marvel. He never actually met the woman or spoke to her, and besides, Peter figured that she'd never take the time of day to speak to a guy like him. He was perfectly fine with a fan boy celebrity-

Captain Marvel was suddenly falling thousands of feet, the fantasy guy having blasted her and then disappeared.

"Aw, applesauce," Peter muttered.

He didn't even hesitate. He jumped to the taller building next to the one he was currently on, and began using speed he reserved for the worst of situations to scale the walls and head to the top. Reaching the top, he snagged two web lines to the rooftop antenna and again took a quick look at the plummeting heroine, calculating how to do this.

"Only one shot, Parker," he muttered to himself. A split second later, he jumped off the tower, letting the web line get longer and longer in length as he fell down more and more. After a little more than a thousand feet, the lines snagged again, and Peter was instantly catapulted into the heavens, heading straight for a Captain Marvel plummeting to her death. Faster and faster she fell, while faster and faster he raced for her. Once within range, he stretched out his arms-

And Carol suddenly found herself held by two strong arms in skin-tight spandex while Peter's arms were suddenly filled with beautiful superheroine.

It took Carol a couple of seconds to stop screaming and another couple to realize who her savior was. "Spider-Man?!" she exclaimed in shock. She had heard about him, but never actually met the vigilante in person in all her time in New York the last few years she lived here. Growing up in Boston, she only heard stories about him; he had apparently been around for at least 10 years, since she was around 17 or 18. He was supposed to be the modern world's first true superhero, even though the Fantastic Four came onto the 'modern hero' scene first, in the early 2000's. He was a street level hero, had a rogues gallery that filled half of the Raft…and was notorious for never shutting up.

"Hi!" Spider-Man replied with a hidden grin and a voice that sounded surprisingly young; Carol imagined he'd be older. "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, at your service!"

"But…you can't fly!" she yelled back.

It was too easy.

"Wait-I can't?!" Peter replied in mock surprise as he looked down. "Holy crap, you're right, I can't! Someone should've told me before I did this! And I made a huge effort coming here to save you too!"

Carol was shocked. "Are…are you joking?! We're falling to our deaths, and you're JOKING?!"

Peter stared at her from behind his mask. "You haven't been here that long enough, have you?"

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" she screamed in reply, anger now coursing in her veins.

"Yep, definitely a New York Newbie," Peter quipped. They continued to plummet to the ground, until Peter realized something. "Y'know, not that I don't enjoy holding a beautiful blonde bombshell in my arms and all, but…can't you FLY?!"

"And now you're HITTING on me?!" Carol fumed.

"It was just a compliment! But seriously, why aren't you flying?!"

"That guy I was fighting, Loki, somehow neutralized my powers!"

"Well…that sucks!"

"REALLY?!"

"What do you want me to say?!"

"How about what your plan is to getting us out of this situation?! In case you forgot, WE'RE FALLING TO OUR DEATHS!"

Peter knew when to joke and when to be serious. He knew where to draw the line. But for some reason, he just couldn't help himself from joking with Captain Marvel and pushing her buttons. He had no idea what; it was just something about her.

"Um…actually, I never usually get this far with this move!"

"SO YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO?!"

Peter grinned behind his mask. "Nope, not at all!"

"WHAT THE F-?!"

"Now, now, a lady shouldn't be using such language, Captain Marvel."

"I'm going to die in the arms of a maniac!"

By this time, Peter saw that he was in range of a skyscraper. 'Oh well, fun's over.'

"Oh, Captain, my Captain, ye of little faith!" he yelled as he fired a web line at the topmost ledge of the tower, which it perfectly snagged. With a yell of joy, he maneuvered them both into a swing towards the streets below. "HANG ON!" She gave him a look of incredulity. "YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!" As he swung on, he unconsciously grabbed tighter onto the heroine, and she unconsciously held onto him tightly, both fearing that she'd slip and fall to her death since she was temporarily depowered. Suddenly, Peter saw a group of people…and a large green monster on the ruined sight of Times Square. "Let me guess," he said, "that way?"

"Yes, that way!" Carol yelled back.

Within a few more seconds, the Webhead and his ride tag along were close enough for Peter to let go of the web line and jump down towards the group, and he could see just who they were-Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Black Widow, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Quicksilver, Spider Woman, Black Panther…and his old buddy, Wolverine. He landed in front of the assemblage of heroes, Captain Marvel in his arm.

"TA-DA!" he exclaimed. "One stick in the mud personality heroine, saved by your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!"

"What?!" Carol yelled as Peter let her go, Spider Woman biting back a laugh.

"Well, I just met you like five minutes ago, and you already seem like the 'doesn't know how to have fun' type of girl," the arachnid quipped.

Carol got directly into his face. "SHUT. UP." Her teeth bore as she snarled the words. "OR I WILL HURT YOU."

"Well, he does have a point, Carol," Jessica laughed.

"JESS!"

"Spider Woman," Peter said as he walked over. "I've always wanted to meet my number one crazy obsessed fan!"

"What?!" Jessica gasped in surprise. "You're the copycat, Spider-Man, not me!"

"Actually, I've been Spider-Man for 11 years," he replied. "You've only been around for only 8, if I recall correctly."

"Don' argue with him, Jess," Logan smirked as he came forward. "You'll be fightin' a losin' war. Trust me, I know."

"Logan, buddy!" Peter exclaimed.

"Good to see ya, Webs…and don' call me buddy."

"Is there anyone you don't know here?" Hawkeye said in exasperation.

"Fought the Hulk once, worked with your Warriors, World War II, Binary, Brotherhood battle in Wakanda, Stark came to Japan that one time, that time with Kitty…I don' know them two," Logan shrugged as he pointed at Hank and Jan.

"I was just joking…" Clint muttered.

"Um, I have a question," Spider-Man asked. "What was that green lightning bolt I saw earlier? I thought it might've had something to do with all the blue Frosty the Snowmen running around."

"It did, Spider-Man," Captain America said. "The one behind all this…he calls himself Loki, and he wants to conquer the world. He managed to throw us around pretty easily-"

"Even the Hulk?" Peter said in shock.

"Even the Hulk," Stark replied.

"He was just lucky…" Hulk muttered.

"Anyways," Steve continued, "he's the one running the invasion and who brought the giants here. He also has help-a woman who calls herself Enchantress and a man with an ax called the Executioner. Not only that, he managed to transform four street criminals into fellows with strength on par with Captain Marvel."

"Damn…" Peter whistled.

"And to make matters worse, they kidnapped the Scarlet Witch-"

"And we should be trying to find her now!" Pietro interrupted. Despite his clear efforts to hide his worry, he was very concerned about his sister right now. "Who knows what that mad psychopath is doing to Wanda right now?!"

"We'll find her, Quicksilver," Cap promised, before turning back to Spider-Man. "I've heard about your activities in New York, Spider-Man. We could really use your help."

"W-wait…my help? MY help?!" Peter gasped.

"That's what he said, Webs," Logan answered.

Peter was out of his mind. Captain America-THE Captain America-was asking for his help. He was being asked to work with some of the greatest heroes of the world, some of the best secret agents, some of the most powerful mutants in the world, and a king of a foreign country…he, HIM-Spider-Man!

"Uh…yeah, yeah!" he replied. "You got it, Cap. I'll help anyway I can. You can count on me." He could barely believe this. Then, he got a crazy idea, and gestured over to Captain Marvel. "And my sidekick, too."

Carol stared at him for a good two seconds before making for the Webhead, with Jessica just able to restrain her. "Let me at him, dammit!"

"Ok, that aside," Stark mused, "now we just got to-"

They were interrupted by a vicious and bone-chilling roar. All 14 heroes turned to see a massive horde of the blue skinned Jotun lumbering towards them from three different directions, all with their weapons in hand and with murder in their eyes. What grabbed their attention, however, was the one Frost Giant that was leading them all. He a bit taller than the rest of them, and his skin was just slightly bluer than that of the others. His weapons were two sinister looking ice scythes. He was clearly the one who was the ruler of these creatures.

"Crap," Carol muttered. "That's…

"Amora the Enchantress promised my people that there was a glorious battle here awaiting us," Ymir of the Frost Giants of Jotunheim sneered. "A group of pitiful mortal humans who think themselves gods, trying to defeat us; allow us, mortals, to show you the error of your ways." And with another vicious roar, Ymir led his armies against the heroes.

"Aw, applesauce…"

* * *

***Little Italy, lower Manhattan***

**16:30 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

Jane stumbled out of the car, looking around hectically and frantically for any more Jotun. "Ok, the coast is clear, for now at least," she said. At that, Thor got out of the car.

The Jotun REALLY hated Thor.

"What the HELL did you do to them?!" the astrophysicist said in exasperation.

"Well, I've continuously beaten the Hel out of them for the past few…" Thor counted off three or four of his fingers. "…Millennia, I believe."

"God, if we hadn't been together for three years…" Jane muttered. "Thor, as your friend, I'm going to tell you…if you ever do get your powers back, don't piss them off anymore."

"Now where would the fun in an immortal life be without smashing and laying waste to a number of Frost Giants every so often?" the fallen god smirked. Jane sighed as she ran her hand through her hair. She should have figured that there would never be any way to convince Thor out of a fight. Hell, he literally knocked out the entire population of one of Atlantic City's bars one time when a biker was making the moves on her. Why?

"Eh, I was bored."

She was starting to wonder if all…Asgardians were like this. Looking around, she saw that they were in Little Italy, and it had definitely seen better days. Cars were burning, bodies littered the floor and at that moment, a few NYPD squad cars and two SWAT vehicles were racing by on an adjacent street. One of the cops yelled at them to get out of the streets as they sped off. Indeed, the streets were kind of empty here. A few blocks over was where people were still outside, scavenging and looting and searching for loved ones.

"He caused this."

Jane turned to Thor. "What?"

"Loki." Jane had heard his stories on his half-brother. "I saw that bolt of lightning…I may not have seen him for three years, Jane, but I recognize the work of my brother. Long has he always sought to conquer Asgard and claim Odin's throne as his own. He has always sought to humiliate me, destroy me, break me and to conquer me. Loki knows he will never be equal to me in our father's eyes. Everything I have earned, he believes it is rightfully his to own. And…I believe that as I have grown so attached to this world, he now seeks to take it from me."

Jane stared at him with her mouth open. She knew from what Thor had told her that Loki Laufeyson was a madman, a psychopath, an evil god bent of ruling over Asgard, and in essence the entirety of the "Nine Realms of the Cosmos." But it never sunk into her mind that it would include Earth…not until now.

"There are heroes across the planet that would stand against him, and stop him," Jane said. "SHIELD and SWORD, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men…"

"They are formidable indeed, Jane," Thor said as he walked on. Jane took this to realize that they weren't going to be driving anymore…pffht, yeah right. She turned to get their stolen squad car, but not before she heard Thor say, "But they are merely mortal humans. How can they hope to stand against a god?"

* * *

***Central Park, Manhattan***

**16:30 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

Wanda found herself unceremoniously thrown into the ground, which resulted in her accidentally getting dirt in her mouth. Spitting out the dirt, she turned and tried to get up, but she only got as far as her knees and one hand on the ground before her face was met with a glowing scepter.

"Please don't," Loki stated with simplicity. "I still need you."

Wanda stared defiantly at the Norse God of Mischief. She would be damned if she would cower and beg for her life like a dog. She was nothing like that-Magneto had instilled defiance of power into her mind, and she utilized that right now as she refused to let the Trickster see any weakness in her. "You will pay for this, Loki," she said quietly, ice in her voice. "This whole invasion of yours…it will blow up in your face, and you will be beaten and my allies will make you pay…unless my brother finds you first."

"The speedster?" Loki laughed. "He could never pose a threat to me. Nor the soldier, or the man in metal, or the monster, or the half breed from the stars…you are all pathetic mortals, scavenging what little you can claim for yourselves. You pretend to be gods with your skills and powers, thinking you can change your world for the better, that you can quell chaos. You feeble minded fools…nothing can quell chaos. It is the natural order."

At that moment, Enchantress appeared with a teleportation spell, along with Executioner, Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer.

"Ymir has gone off to deal with the mortal heroes," Amora stated. "And the Destroyer is heading back to their location now. And…you have captured the witch." Amora stared at Wanda sinisterly. "Well done, my Lord."

"Yes, indeed, my lovely Enchantress," Loki smirked. "She is truly quite powerful, as you say. The arcane abilities in her…it is unlike anything I've ever seen. Such potency…it can easily stand against the powers of the All-Father. At last, I can truly claim and conquer what is rightfully mine…in conquering this pathetic cesspool of a realm that my oaf of a brother was banished in, I've found a weapon that will win us the Nine Realms."

"So you plan to turn me into a weapon," Wanda chuckled. "It didn't work when Sinister tried it, it didn't work when the Hellfire Club tried it, and you won't have any better luck."

"Now what makes you think I need YOU at all?" Loki laughed. Wanda's eyes widened as she suddenly understood what he was implying. When he decided to claim her power, she merely thought she was going to be forced to fight for him…but all he wanted was her powers. Wanda herself was of no use to him at all. Before she could even move or react, however, Loki suddenly waved his hand and she was lifted off the ground. Green spheres of magical energy ensnared her hands as they were forced up in a horizontal stretch formation. Her legs and feet were also ensnared together by the same green energy. She was now suspended in the air unable to move or cast any hexes or arcane blasts. "All I need is the power inside you," Loki sneered, and Wanda found herself slowly starting to know fear. "Your power, and after I take it from you, I could care less what becomes of you, wench."

"Then pass her on to us," Wrecker said suddenly, a sneer on his face. "After everything we're doing for ya, I think me and the boys could use a nice reward."

"And she's as nice as they get," Thunderball added, eyeing the mutant with predatory eyes.

Wanda unconsciously gulped in horror.

"Very well, my minions," Loki chuckled. "You may do as you wish to her…after I gain her powers."

At that, Wanda felt the pain again…and then the screams began escaping her lips.

* * *

***Times Square***

**16:40 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"WHY DON' THESE THINGS GIVE UP, DAMMIT!?" Wolverine roared as he slashed at another Jotun's throat, drenching his claws, his black uniform, the Jotun's neck and the street below with blue blood as the creature collapsed to its death. "THEY JUST KEEP COMIN' AND COMIN'!"

"Then keep gutting them, you big baby!" Barton yelled as he fired a volley of explosive arrows at three Frost Giants. He was back to back with Widow as she fired rapid rounds of machine gun fire.

They were getting their asses kicked. The Jotun were swarming them like crazy, and their numbers didn't seem to be ending any time soon. Loki clearly was making to ensure that they were all too occupied to come after him. Bullets, explosions, battle cries, war cries, yells, smashes and booms rang out for blocks around as the assembled heroes fought back viciously against the oncoming hordes of Frost Giants. They were outnumbered and outclassed…but they weren't out powered.

Except for Captain Marvel; her powers still neutralized, Carol was unable to put up the fight she yearned to give right now and dish out the damage she really wanted to. But even depowered, she wasn't one to run from a fight. She was a former soldier, and a former SHIELD agent, dammit. Give her a gun or two and some ammo, and she fought just as fierce. And at the moment, that was exactly what she was doing, firing two guns she had grabbed off a nearby SWAT officer's body, a combat belt with a bunch of ammo cartridges in the pouches.

Hulk was taking the brunt of the force-he had instantly made to smash Ymir and since then he had been engaged in a vicious brawl with him. Ymir was unlike any of the other Jotun-he was stronger and more resistant…and certainly more ruthless and uncaring. He wielded two ice scythes, and he knew how to use them well. He was certainly powerful. Not on the level of the Hulk, however, but where he failed in strength, he made up in skill. This made it a vicious battle for the both of the titans. Their fight had traveled all over Times Square and had caused even more damage than their fight with the Destroyer.

"Just hold the damn line!" Stark yelled out, his armor once again fully functioning as he grabbed a Jotun by the head and threw it into the ground, firing his uni-beam at another. "We can't let these things keep us here! We break them down and go find Loki!"

"Never took you as the leader type, Tony!" Cap yelled with a smirk as he grabbed his shield as it ricocheted from the head of a Jotun.

"Me? I dabble in many things, old man!" Iron Man replied as he touched down. "SHIELD REFLECTION!" At that, he fired his repulsors at Captain America, who protected himself with his shield at an angle, allowing the repulsor blasts to fire off to the Jotun.

"Cool," Spider-Man whistled as he blinded a Frost Giant with his webbing. With a somersault, he rammed his feet into its face, slamming it into the ground.

"Stay focused, counterpart!" Jessica chuckled as she landed next to him in a crouch, firing her venom blasts. "We can't have you bloody killed while you're sightseeing, now can we?!"

"I've lasted this long!" Peter quipped as they got back to back, firing webs and venom blasts. "So, I've been wondering...you shoot webs or anything?"

"What?" Jessica replied. "That's a bit random, isn't it?"

"Do you?"

"No!"

"So why are you called SPIDER Woman?! You don't seem to have any spider powers!"

"I can cling to walls like you, if that helps! And I have spider DNA in my blood!"

"Hey, me too!"

"You're pretty random, aren't you?!"

"It's more fun than it looks!"

"Annoying to most!"

"You seem to be fine with it! Most women can't stand me for five minutes!" Spider-Man yelled as he shot a web line above Jessica's head, blinding the Jotun charging her. In a flash, she rammed her fist into its eye and fired venom blasts at its mouth.

Spider Woman smirked. "That should tell you something, shouldn't it?"

"Eh, I think it should," Peter shrugged as he fired more webbing. "Not sure what, though."

"I must admit, you certainly live up to your reputation," Jess replied as she fired her venom blasts at a Jotun making to slam Peter to the ground. "You're nothing like what I'd thought you to be!"

"Is that a good thing?"

"I would say so-you certainly made me laugh for the first time this whole day."

"Huh…I think that's the first time I've heard that in years!"

"Well, you left quite the impression on Captain Marvel."

"I think she wants to kill me."

"Oh, she's just joking!"

"NO I WASN'T!" Captain Marvel yelled as she fired at a Jotun, distracting it enough for Hulk to smash it with Ymir's face.

"Ignore her-she's just embarrassed she had to be saved. She's not used to being the damsel in distress."

"I could tell-real stick in the mud."

"That's what I always saw!"

"REALLY, JESS?!" Carol yelled out.

"Oh you know I kid!"

"Me too!" Spidey quipped.

"NO ONE ASKED YOUR OPINION!"

"Hey, now be nice to my male counterpart!"

"Y'know, Spider Woman," Spider-Man said with a smile as he kicked a Jotun in the crotch, making it howl in pain. "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship!"

"I believe so!" Spider Woman yelled back with her own smile as she blasted the hit Jotun in the face.

"Oh, joy…" muttered Carol.

"Cheer up, Danvers," Logan said as he ran past her. "He stops getting' annoyin' after a while."

"How long?!"

"I'll letchu know when he does!"

"Yes, find a new friend in this chaos," Pietro yelled as he rapidly unleashed volleys after volleys of deadly momentum enhanced punches on the Jotun. "Meanwhile, Wanda is God knows where with that mad man!"

"WE'LL FIND HER, DAMMIT!" Natalia yelled. "FOCUS ON THE CURRENT PROBLEM!"

"Do not be so hostile to Pietro, Black Widow," Panther shouted as he rammed daggers into the eyes of a Frost Giant. "He is right to be concerned of his sister! With such power, Loki can easily use her against us!"

"I think he was more concerned on the flesh &amp; blood aspect!" Janet yelled. With a roar, she fired more stinger blasts-until she was rammed by a massive fist into the ground.

"JAN!" Pym yelled as he grew to 30ft and brutally slammed the Jotun responsible into the ground. Jan, however, was far from out of the count. Surprising the other heroes minus Pym, she grew from a minuscule 6 inches to a massive 30ft, slamming her foot into a Jotun and ramming an entire group of them into the theater with a swat of her hand.

"Don't worry, honey!" Jan grinned, much to Pym's relief. "It'll take more than that to keep me down!"

"Umm…that might be something we may actually have to worry about!" Peter yelled out, his Spider-Sense, already going crazy, now going on haywire.

"What do you mean?!" Hawkeye yelled out.

"Something bad is coming!"

"Oh, because this isn't bad enough!" Carol yelled.

"Apparently not!" Spidey yelled as he pointed. "What the hell is-?!"

**FREEAAAWWWAAAAAOOOMMMMM!**

A sudden energy blast of devastating proportions came out of nowhere and hit the ground where Spider-Man and Spider Woman were standing just moments before Peter grabbed Jess and leapt out of the way, allowing numerous Frost Giants to take the blasts. To the horror and shock of the assembled heroes, the Destroyer came lumbering back onto the scene.

"Well," Mockingbird yelled as she avoided an ice spear. "We're screwed."

"Talk about feeling useless," Carol muttered. She was still the only one who was able to stand toe to toe with the Destroyer, and right now she was currently depowered and unable to take it down. Her guns wouldn't do anything.

"Hulk!" Cap ordered. "Focus on the Destroyer! Iron Man, Wolverine and I will deal with that Ymir guy!"

"Got it!" Hulk roared as he threw Ymir into a nearby building and charged towards the Destroyer, only to meet a very powerful metallic fist as it slammed him into the ground. Hulk only got angrier and fired a massively powerful uppercut at the machine. Meanwhile, Ymir was struggling to get up only to meet savage claws slashing at his face, enticing roars of pain. Swinging his ice scythes blindly, he was hit with Iron Man' uni-beam blast as Wolverine and Captain America struck at his leg.

"Ok, so the two impromptu leaders are facing the blue guy there," Hawkeye stated as the other heroes regrouped. "I nominate Danvers as our new field commander."

"What?" Carol stuttered.

"You've got the experience, girl," Bobbi remarked.

Carol looked at Jess, Clint, Natalia, Bobbi, King T'Challa, Pietro, Hank, Jan and…Spider-Man, and cocking her gun, she nodded with a smirk. "Ok, then, team, here's the plan. We still need to find Wanda and we'll need to get through these guys. Pietro, make as big a suction vortex as you can, and suck them all in. Jess, you distract them and break their ranks with your pheromones. Natalia, Clint and I will take the right flank while-!"

**FFFRREAAAAASSWWEEEEEAAOOOMMMM!**

"**RRRAAAAAUUUGHHHHRRRHHH!"**

The heroes watched as the Destroyer fired a massive energy blast at the Hulk, so powerful that it sent the titan flying through various buildings and down multiple street, and eventually, right into the Empire State Building a couple dozen blocks over. People were still in that general area, fleeing and panicking, and it got worse when the Hulk crashed into the bottom right sides of the skyscraper. He was oblivious to the people around him, and oblivious to the damage he had caused in his impact. All the Hulk cared for right now was to smash the Destroyer to Kingdom Come. Oblivious to the other things, he jumped back to where he had been.

…Which meant that he was oblivious to the fact that the Empire State Building was now collapsing, with its foundation completely uneven.

Carol, Jess, T'Challa, Hank, Jan, Pietro, Clint, Natalia, Bobbi and Peter did see this, however. They watched as the foundations groaned and grumbled and the bulk of the skyscraper began sliding down and down, turning into a leaning position that easily threatened to topple and utterly crush everyone under it, along with killing everyone still inside the Empire State Building in the fall.

"Um…that isn't good," Jan said in shock.

"No kidding," Jess replied.

"Pym, can you hold up a building?!" Carol demanded.

"Of THAT size?!" Yellowjacket replied. "I've never tried something like that. I don't think the Particles enhance my strength levels to those proportions.

"I have an idea-!" Spider-Man began, only to be interrupted by a vicious roar. Jotun began descending upon them, taking advantage of their momentary distraction. Within seconds, the heroes, huddled together, were now either separated or in pairs. Peter instantly saw that this wasn't good. Here they were being divided and conquered while the Empire State Building was slowly falling to its doom with hundreds of people inside it falling to their deaths. If he could just get there in time…!

"One vortex, coming up!" Quicksilver roared as he began moving at high supersonic speeds, creating a suction vortex that started pulling in the Frost Giants, each of whom were promptly greeting into the vortex by swift rapid punches.

"Good work, Quicksilver," Carol yelled as she, Clint and Natalia rapidly fired at the creatures. "Yellowjacket, we'll cover you so you can get to the Empire-!"

"KINDA BUSY HERE!" Pym yelled as he was jumped by a swarm of Jotun.

"Dammit!" Carol yelled in anger. "Spider-Man and Panther, help Pym! Jess, you-!" She was interrupted, however, as Spider-Man suddenly jumped over her head, rammed a powerful punch into a Jotun's face, and then swung off at high speeds to God knew where. "Spider-Man! SPIDER-MAN!" she yelled in shocked anger, only for her cries to fall on deaf ears. "WHAT THE HELL!"

"Did…he just leave!?" Bobbi yelled in shock as she jumped up and rammed a bo staff into a Frost Giant's eye, making it roar in pain. "He said he was going to stay and help us and he LEFT!?"

"When I find him after this is over, I AM GOING TO KILL HIM!" Carol yelled viciously as she loaded her final cartridge into her gun. "Jessica, you better change your name after this!"

"He must have a reason for leaving!" Panther yelled as he landed in a crouch, a dead Jotun falling behind him with daggers in its neck.

"Really?! What's going on that's more important than the end of the world?!" Natalia yelled.

"Well, I think there's a Knicks game going on today!" Clint offered.

"Clint, shut up!" Bobbi yelled.

Meanwhile, Cap, Iron Man and Wolverine were doing the best they could against Ymir. He may have been big, but he was very agile, and very apt with those ice blades of his. Unfortunately, he was up against three heroes instead of just one. Two of them had faced armies and won, and the other had a suit that had all kinds of surprises waiting to be unleashed. Cap repeatedly dodged every attack that came his way or blocked it with his shield, and threw and rammed it into the Jotun's face. Logan's claws were dripping blue with blood as he constantly slashed at the giant's thick skin and left numerous scars on Ymir's body. Stark fired his repulsors left and right, not relenting and not giving the titan any chance of recovering time. Ymir had faced Asgardians and trolls, and here he was, being humbled by mortals.

Hulk, however, was the worse off; no matter how much madder or stronger he got, the Destroyer was able to meet him in strength levels. Each blow was met by the other with full force. Punches on metal and metal on thick skin echoed out as the two titans continued to duke it out, unrelenting and undeterred. Unfortunately, Hulk was still a living thing that had a stamina reserve. Even though he could fight off countless armies and aliens and super powered beings, he still got tired and exhausted, and despite what most of the planet thought, the Incredible Hulk could still feel pain. The Destroyer had none of those limitations. A relentless metallic juggernaut, it just kept coming and coming.

"Y'know, Banner," Hulk mused in his mental landscape, "when we agreed to this, I wasn't expecting us to get our ass handed to us so soon!"

"Yeah, neither was I," Bruce mused as he watched the battle from his place inside their shared conscious. "I really do wish that Captain Marvel can get her powers back some time soon."

"This isn't going good!" Hawkeye yelled out as he fired more arrows.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Carol yelled back. Suddenly, her gun stopped firing bullets and simply clicked every time she tried to shoot. 'Oh, crap, I'm out…' she realized. She barely saw the incoming ice spear in time, and dodged out of the way. "And I just ran out of ammo!"

"Jan and Nat!" Bobbi yelled. "Cover Carol!"

"I can take care of-!"

"Not like this, you can't!" Jan yelled as she went super sized and slammed her foot into a Frost Giant's mouth. "You have no powers, and you have no weapons on you! You're going to get yourself killed!"

"Well, I can't just stay here and do nothing!"

An explosion then suddenly rang out as the Destroyer blasted the Hulk into the Times Square Visitors Center building. With a vicious and agonizing roar, the Hulk crashed right through, flying out on the other side of the building onto W46 Street. Apparently, there were people inside the Visitor Center, hiding inside from the carnage that was now plaguing the city. With the large gaping hole in the building's side, people instantly broke out into a panic. Unfortunately, as human beings can't ever rationalize in a dangerous situation, the first thing they did was run right outside, right into the sights of the Destroyer and the Jotun. And the Jotun and Destroyer were supposed to be destroying everything in sight.

"Dammit; Jess and Panther, break off and keep those things away from the civilians!" Natalia ordered.

"Um, where's Hulk?!" Pym yelled as he saw the Destroyer lumbering in the direction of where the Hulk had crashed. This was also the direction where the people were screaming and panicking and running away.

Ymir, meanwhile, had just managed to impale Logan through the stomach with his ice scythe and the mutant was currently doing anything he could to rip it out of his body, now that he was stuck impaled onto an abandoned bus. Steve and Stark were now forced on the defensive as Ymir switched to a mixture of brute force and skillful weaponry. Stark's shields and armor were starting to cave under the sheer force of pressure from Ymir's blows. Steve may have been an excellent combatant, but Ymir had a few millennia of battling under his belt. With a vicious roar, he punched Cap, who-even though he brought his shield down to protect himself-went flying into the air and crashed into a nearby abandoned food stand.

"There's too many of them!" Panther yelled as he threw another trio of daggers. He suddenly realized he was almost out of daggers. His only remaining weapons left were a few daggers, his vibranium claws, his combat skills and two daggers that could connect into a dual bladed staff.

"But we must continue!" Pietro yelled as he landed a 1000 punch combo into a Jotun's leg in an instant, forcing it down for Hawkeye to shoot an incendiary arrow at its face. "We have too much at stake to-!"

"MOMMY!"

Carol heard it, and turned to see a little boy tripping over a broken piece of car, abandoned by the masses of panicking people fleeing the area. In horror, she also saw the Destroyer lumbering in that direction. Jess and T'Challa were too busy keeping the Frost Giants at bay from the fleeing people. The child looked up and saw the metallic juggernaut lumbering in his direction. Carol didn't hesitate. In an instant, she was running to where the little boy lay.

"Danvers, what the hell are you doing?!" Natalia yelled as she saw the heroine running, but Carol paid no heed; she just knew that she had to get to that child before the Destroyer, who she saw now preparing to fire yet another blast. Carol pushed herself to run faster, and as she did, she felt the contractions of her lungs as they absorbed more air, the burns in her thighs as she made the run, and something else in her body, but she couldn't quite place what it was at the moment, maybe it-

"Don't worry, I'm going to get you to your mommy!" she cried as she approached the child.

"Captain Marvel?" he gasped.

"Yeah, that's me. Now hold on-!"

**FFWWAAAASSEEAAAAWWWWWOOOOOMMMMM!**

It happened so fast.

Carol had barely grabbed the child and started getting up to run to his mother when she saw the Destroyer fire its blast. She had no time to dodge it or race for nearby shelter. So she did the only thing natural to her-she turned and shielded the boy with her body. It was as she did that that she remembered she was completely unable to actually protect him without her powers. She was going to burn with him. She didn't care-she needed to make the kid think everything was going to be ok, no matter what. So there she stayed, her body facing the blast and her arms protectively surrounding the child, waiting for the blast to impact her, and when it did, she expected in that brief nanosecond to feel intense burning and pain and agony before death.

What she didn't expect was her body taking the full energy of the blast, the heat playfully nipping at her exposed skin, and the entirety of the blast being absorbed by her, with the child unaffected at all.

She was stupefied as her body began glowing intensely and her eyes became white orbs again. The sensation of unending adrenaline coursed through her once more and Carol…Carol felt like she had absorbed the sun. Her powers had returned.

"Kid," she said as she let the boy go. "Run." And with that and a vicious yell, Captain Marvel unleashed a massive energy blast at the Destroyer, sending it flying back. And with a resonating boom, she slammed her fist into it the juggernaut's face.

"Whoa…" the boy murmured before running off to catch up with the still fleeing crowds.

"HOLY SHIT!" Bobbi yelled as she saw the Destroyer fly into the skies, Captain Marvel viciously and mercilessly decimating the titan.

"She's back!" Jess yelled in glee.

Sure enough, Carol regaining her powers gave the assembled heroes just the push they needed. Carol slammed the Destroyer into the ground and set her attention on the various Frost Giants in the area. Firing a relentless barrage of photon blasts, she hit every Jotun she could, blasting them into the ground, into the skies, into buildings. If that weren't enough, she also put her fighting skills into use as she landed merciless combos and hits and kicks onto the Jotun, breaking them and their weapons. Joined in with the attacks from the others, the Frost Giants suddenly found themselves overpowered by the woman who had managed to turn the Destroyer's power against them. Arrow, repulsors, claws, blasts, fists, stingers, bullets and staffs united as one and decimated the massive hordes of invaders. A number of the Frost Giants fell dead while others sported massive injuries. Ymir saw this, and recognized that with this sudden boost of power, they couldn't win now. He confirmed this when Captain Marvel landed a devastating kick onto his arm when he tried to decapitate her.

"FROST GIANTS!" he roared, clutching his arm. "Make haste and retreat! To Loki and his followers!" With that, the Jotun began falling back, heading deeper into the city.

"We did it!" Jan declared.

"Not yet!" Carol said as she saw the Destroyer get back onto its feet

**KRAKABOOM!**

…Only to slammed right back into the ground by a burning, bleeding, vicious and pissed off Hulk. "THAT. MADE. ME. MAD!" he roared. Grabbing the juggernaut's faceless head, Hulk roared as he threw the Destroyer away, the titan flying off to parts unknown in the city.

"Damn you look terrible, Hulk," Jess gasped as he walked over to the other heroes. Indeed, the Hulk's durable skin was a mess. It was charred and burned, it was bleeding and it was darker in many places. There were many burn marks from the Destroyer's blast. But Hulk had a very potent healing factor, one which was being put to use as the injuries began to slowly repair themselves.

"Don't care," Hulk grumbled. "Still too mad."

"Well, that was some good work, everyone," Cap said as he secured his shield. "We have them on the run."

"And they said they're heading for Loki," Stark added. "My guess that where Loki is, so is Scarlet Witch. We follow them, save her and together we take that guy down."

"A sound plan," Pietro said instantly.

"And with the creatures recovering from this battle, we may stand a chance," Panther mused.

"Not sure, your Majesty," Stark countered. "That was just a large horde of them. My scanners show that there are still tons of these things across the city. The ones we fought didn't even account for half of the numbers I'm seeing."

"How do we handle that?" Pym asked.

"_Not to worry, Dr. Pym,"_ a voice on Steve's radio comm answered, surprising them all. _"Leave that to us."_

"Fury," Cap replied. At that instant, sounds of jet engines roared in the heavens. They all looked up to see SHIELD Raptor F-88 fighter jet squadrons, attack choppers, drop ships and Mandroid divisions flying in the skies high above. SHIELD had finally arrived on the scene.

"About time you guys showed up," Stark said as he established a connection to the Helicarrier.

* * *

***SHIELD Helicarrier UNS Odyssey, 1800ft in the skies, entering New York City airspace***

**16:54 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Don't start with me, Stark," Director Fury replied as he stared at the feeds on the screens; it was about time the SHIELD techies had managed to reestablish secure lines with the Warriors on scene. The entire command deck was buzzing as Hill barked out orders and deployments. "What the hell is happening down there?! I got blips all over Manhattan, and I got the NYPD, the mayor, the New York Governor, the Pentagon and the US President calling the Helicarrier-!"

"Some guy named Loki is trying to take over the world," Natalia's voice interrupted. "He's brought an army of creatures called Frost Giants to enforce his goals. He's also got a few lieutenants, a near unstoppable weapon, and he turned four civilians into his own thugs. And he's captured the Scarlet Witch. We believed he's trying to harness her powers for his own gains."

"Well damn," the Director replied. Swiping his hand on the screens before him, he brought up a feed from a satellite orbiting above New York. He could see the assembled heroes in the streets. "Did you all team up to fight against this?"

"Yes, sir," Cap's voice replied.

"Even the Hulk?"

"He's actually been a big help to us, Fury," Jess' voice replied.

Fury brought up feeds from the Raft to see what the situation was down there. "Ok…I'll want to talk about that later on. Anyways, listen up all of you. I can see you guys are working together to bring down this invasion, and that you have your hands full. Here's what I'll do: SHIELD forces will engage any of these things that they find. I got ground troops and Mandroid units deploying. The US military ETA is five minutes. We'll get them in on the flow, too. We do that, that should leave you all focused to handle the big guns of this whole invasion."

"Really, Fury?" Carol's voice replied. "That's all you'll do?"

"Nothing more for now; I have the World Security Council wanting me to nuke Manhattan though," Fury replied. "Don't make me have to resort to that." He brought up another feed of the areas surrounding Times Square and frowned. "Now, someone want to tell me why the Empire State Building is leaning in a slanted-?"

"Sir," Hill interrupted. "Coulson's on the line."

"Patch him through," Fury replied. "And all of you-don't mess this up…I don't always put my trust in superhumans and vigilantes, but you all seem to be our only shot of getting out of this. Don't make me regret it." With that, Fury severed the connection. "Go ahead Coulson. What's the status of the Raft?"

"The prisoners are secure, Boss," Coulson's voice replied. "We managed to get most to the temp cells in 42. Three of the things attacking Manhattan crashed into the Raft, but the Hulk took care of them. Last I saw, he was heading to Manhattan to help out."

"Yeah, he's with a bunch of the city's heroes and some of our Warriors," Fury confirmed. "I'm sending a transport for you, ETA in 10 minutes."

"Got it, Boss," Coulson replied and the feed went dead.

"Sir," Hill asked. "Can we really trust these superheroes and vigilantes?"

Fury stared at his feed. SHIELD officially only barely tolerated superheroes and vigilantes, as the Council stated. But Fury himself, he knew there were threats in the world only their kind could handle. This was probably one of them. Granted, he could've just taken complete control of the situation and had them all follow his orders. The problem with that was he had no idea what was going on other than it was an invasion, and they knew what was going on. No, he needed to put his pride away, and put some trust in these heroes. Captain America was down there, anyways, and Stark, though an ass, could get serious when it was called for, like right now. If anyone he knew could get this to turn around, Nick Fury was sure it was those two leading the others that could.

"I'd like to think so, Hill."

* * *

***Times Square***

**16:55 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Oh my God," Bobbi gasped. "THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, I COMPLETELY FOR-…" She found herself silent as she and the other assembled heroes saw that the skyscraper was actually…still standing, albeit slanting.

"Um…wasn't it, like, falling to its doom?" Clint asked.

"It was…." Stark mumbled. "JARVIS, scan the area."

"People are going to need our help there," Steve said. "Let's get there before we-!"

"Someone is holding it up!" Stark interrupted.

"What?!" Pym gaped.

"I'm serious, my scanners show someone is holding up the Empire State Building! I can't see who with all the debris, but someone is definitely holding it up-and it looks like they're struggling!"

"Then you, Danvers, Hulk and Pietro go on ahead!" Cap replied. "The rest of us will catch up as fast as we can!"

"Got it!" Iron Man replied. With that, he, Carol, Hulk and Quicksilver raced off and jumped off to the skyscraper. Pietro was the first to arrive, followed by Carol 10 seconds later, who came in time to see Pietro exiting the skyscraper.

"They're evacuating as fast as they can," he told her as she landed, three people with him. "I'm helping them out, but the police say that the superhuman holding up the building may not last longer." With that, the mutant sped off to help evacuate the building. The heroine took in the sight of police, paramedics and firefighters going as fast as they could and as best they could to get to the civilians and evacuate them as fast as they could before the skyscraper potentially fell or collapsed. She was wondering just who was under the giant infrastructure, holding up all that weight-it had to be a really strong superhuman. Perhaps he or she would be willing to join their cause. But first, she decided to help out with evacuation. Carol was about to fly over to the skyscraper, when a little girl ran up to her, looking worried.

"Captain Marvel!"

"Hey, little one," she replied as she leaned down, a smile on her face. "What's wrong?"

"You have to help him! He's hurting! I think holding up the building is hurting him!"

This caught Carol's attention. "Who?" she asked as Hulk and Iron Man arrived.

"Spider-Man!" This completely surprised Carol. "Hurry, he's under there!" the girl continued as she pointed to a section where the building's loose foundation almost met the streets. Carol couldn't believe what she had heard; SPIDER-MAN?! That stupid idiotic clown? Unconvinced, Carol dashed over to where the girl had pointed and lowered herself to see what was inside.

She was met with white lenses and a shaking spandex covered body. There in front of her, supporting the probably 90+ ton building on his shoulders and back, was the Amazing Spider-Man.

"Hey," he said with a strained voice. "Yeah…this was the idea I had. Sorry for running off, but I really didn't think there was another way. Guess you guys managed to take them down, though." Peter saw the heroine was still looking at him with shock. Then he remembered that his arms, unused to such strain despite being capable of withstanding it, were hurting like hell. "Um…Captain Marvel, you think you could…?"

"Oh, right," Carol said as she came back to reality. With essentially relative ease due to her strength, Carol took the building in her hands and raised it up, setting the skyscraper back into its foundation, balancing the gigantic infrastructure onto its base, ensuring that it wouldn't fall again. Peter then collapsed onto the ground, exhausted as his stamina reserves began to slowly replenish themselves. As people cheered, the other heroes arrived on scene and watched as Captain Marvel touched down and helped Spider-Man onto his feet. It took them a few seconds to put two and two together.

"Wait…it was SPIDEY?!" Wasp gasped in shock. "HE was the one holding up the building?!"

"Um…I guess so," Stark replied in awe. The other heroes, even Wolverine, were in utter surprise. As a result, none of them noticed the police car slowly pull up behind them.

Carol, as she helped the arachnid onto his feet, was still in awe, wonder and shock. She knew that he faced some pretty strong supervillians in his heroics, but this kind of strength display…she had never heard of Spider-Man performing such a feat before today. It surprised her. And she noticed that his body, though clearly able to perform such a feat, was also clearly not accustomed to doing so. His body was shaking and he was breathing slightly heavier than a normal person should. She never would've expected something like this from Spider-Man at all, especially after their…unusual first encounter just earlier today. Allowing him to lean on her, she helped him over to the other heroes, still in awe. She somehow felt she needed to say something after seeing this-some form of praise or congratulation or encouragement. All she could really think of, however, was…

"You're strong."

She was surprised to hear the vigilante chuckled and reply, "I know." Thinking he was being egoistic, Carol was about to retort with anger when he added, "It hurts, though…being strong isn't all that fun."

The two came over to the others. "Webs, you ok?" Logan asked.

"Yeah," Peter replied. "Just got to…catch my breath. I'll be dandy in a few."

"That was pretty impressive," Jess said.

"Really, man," Clint agreed. "Never would've expected that from you."

"No one does," the vigilante replied. "It helps with the underdog vibe I try to give off."

"Well, you're no underdog here, son," Cap said as he smiled in approval. "Doing something like that without any hesitation…not many would do that. That took guts. I'm glad you're fighting for our side, Spider-Man. You really do the title 'hero' justice."

"You have no idea how much I'm screaming like a schoolgirl inside my head after hearing those words." Everyone chuckled at those words. Peter continued, "Thank you, Captain America…that means a lot from you."

"Hopefully, you do even better when we face Loki again," Stark said. "Ok, everyone…we didn't do so well fighting him the first time, especially with his backup and that glow stick of destiny. But, we have another chance to bring him down. We're taking the fight to Loki this time. He caught us by surprise the first time, but now-"

"You battled Loki?"

They turned behind them to see a handsome blonde man standing before them, wearing jeans, a black shirt and a dark blue jacket. He wore his long hair in a low rise ponytail and had a slight scruff of beard. He had a look of curiosity and confusion on his face. Racing up to him was a beautiful brunette woman of around the age of late twenties or early thirties. "Thor…" she gasped as she finally came to his side. "I said this was a bad idea-!"

"But they indeed battled Loki-!"

"Dr. Jane Foster?!" Spider-Man suddenly said in realization. "And Dr. Donald Blake?! Holy…you guys are the experts in Einstein-Rosen theory! I did my thesis on your work! You two changed the entire wormhole view!"

"Spider-Man's right," Pym added. "Both of them are some of the most well respected minds in their field of work."

"And…he knows about Loki…" Natalia said in suspicion.

"Unusual, being these two were nowhere near the battle," Panther stated, also suspicious.

"Yeah…we weren't even in Manhattan when this whole thing started," Jane Foster replied. "THIS guy stole a cop car to get us here once we found out what was going on. Oh…and his name isn't Donald Blake. It's Thor."

"Wait, what?!" Pym and Peter exclaimed.

"It is true," the blonde man replied. "Donald Blake is only an illusion, created to mask my true identity in this realm. I don't even know anything in the field of 'Einstein-Rosen theory.' What I know is just simply fact to my people. Speaking of which, if you are going to do battle with Loki again, you will need my aid. I have dealt with Loki much in the last hundreds of years. You may be some of the greatest champions of Earth, some of Midgard's mightiest heroes, but against a god, you truly stand no chance. You need my help, protectors of Midgard."

"…Is anyone else freaked out?" Bobbi asked.

"Should I smash him?" Hulk asked with complete seriousness.

"NO!" Jane yelled. "Don't try to hurt him!"

"I don' like this," Logan growled. "Guy just randomly shows up and starts talkin' about the world's newest supervillian sensation like they grew up together or somethin' like that."

"My entire thesis paper may have been a lie…" Spider-Man said.

"THAT'S what concerns you?" Captain Marvel sighed in exasperation.

"I'm with Logan," Clint said. "This doesn't seem right."

"Ok, look," Jane sighed, trying to defend Thor. "He may seem like a crazy jackass, but there is truth in his words. I've been with him for three years now, and what he first said to me seemed impossible. But over time, I saw that he was right. You have to listen to him…Thor isn't trying to trick you guys. Yeah, his entire career the last three years may be a sham, but-"

"Ok, that isn't of concern to us right now," Cap said as he approached Thor, suspicion all over his face. "What I want to know is why you seem to know quite a bit about this 'Loki' fellow, and how you even know his name or that he exists."

Thor sighed and looked directly into the Captain's eyes. "Because…he is my brother."

* * *

_**XXXXX**_

_**TO BE CONTINUED….**_


	6. Assemble! Part 6

Chapter 6: Assemble! Part 6

* * *

***Central Park, same time***

**17:03 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"She is…very resistant…" Amora mused, puzzlement on her face.

"Indeed," Loki smirked.

Wanda didn't know how much longer she could hold out. She was willing every single bit of her arcane and hex abilities into her focus; she was manipulating probability, making it so that Loki's spells and attempts to drain her of her powers would almost certainly not work, and she had been up to now succeeding in her attempts. The magical forces Loki had doused her with were working nonstop to drain her of her abilities and Wanda was countering it as best as she could. Her screams from the beginning had turned into roars of pain and determination, her focus channeling directly into her efforts to counter Loki's actions. But it was taking a tremendous toll on her body and her energy reserves; she had never channeled her abilities in a way like she was now, never channeling her full power set like she was now, in a single all powerful movement. She felt herself getting weaker and weaker with each passing minute. She was closer and closer to faltering and soon she'd be unable to keep up with her resistance. If some sort of miracle didn't happen soon, then she would collapse under the strain of Loki's power, and her own mutant powers and arcane abilities would be stolen from her, and if Loki took them unto himself…then the world truly was doomed.

She just had to hold out a bit longer…

"Why do you resist so much, mortal?" Loki taunted with a sneer, fascinated by how much the Scarlet Witch worked to resist his attempts to steal her abilities. "You are getting weaker and weaker, and all the while, my armies are razing this so-called mighty city to the ground. Soon, they will spread across Midgard, and all your people's pitiful attempts to resist will fail. I will take this realm, and I will then take Asgard itself, and then all Nine Realms of the Cosmos. It is my birthright, my destiny."

"Ha…" Wanda sneered as she squirmed in the pain of Loki's magic and her own resistance. "Birthright…I used to think that was my birthright, too; to rule this world and the Homo sapiens. Let me tell you something…that is simply a delusion, a warped concept that you're superior to the rest. You aren't; you are going to fall, just as any other tyrant. Mankind, mutantkind…all life on this Earth will never submit. Not to men like you."

"There are no men like me," Loki smirked.

"There are always men like you," Wanda strained to say. "My father is a prime example."

"Loki!" The invaders, their human cohorts and the Scarlet Witch turned to see the Jotun horde that had been dispatched to attack the assembled heroes arriving towards them, led by their king, Ymir. Loki was surprised to see that the Jotun were in actually bad shape. Many of them held a variety of wounds and burns. Not only that, the Enchantress had seen Ymir lead a few hundred of the creatures, but now only 30 remained.

"Ymir?" Amora asked in puzzlement. "What has-?!"

"You sent us to a defeat!" Ymir roared, his hand grabbing the Enchantress' throat, only for the Executioner's blade to slice through his arm, not enough to sever the limb, but enough to cause great pain and have the Jotun release her hold.

"Do not touch the Enchantress," Skurge snarled, readying himself for battle.

"Calm yourself, Skurge," Loki ordered as he, flanked by Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer, came over to the towering beast. "Ymir, loyal servant of my father Laufey…what happened to you and your fellow Jotun?"

"The mortals you sent us to slaughter," Ymir snarled. "Your Enchantress promised us that they would be like pigs at the slaughter…but they are nothing as such. They are powerful. They have a fighting spirit unlike anything I have ever seen, even in the wars against Asgard. They refuse to surrender, and they refuse to fall. Even the ones who have no abilities as the others, they do not show fear. They are formidable warriors, and they were not the cowering wretches we were promised. And…you said there were only 13, but there were 14."

"14?" Loki asked, actually confused.

"And the woman in red you claimed to kill? She was alive, and she stood against the Destroyer itself, Laufeyson. And the green brutish monster has sent it to parts unknown."

"Amora?" Loki asked as he turned to the Enchantress.

"I sense them," the sorceress said as her eyes began glowing green, her magics working to locate the heroes. "They indeed stand…the half breed does live and she is again empowered…there is indeed a new hero amongst them…and also two mortals. And…they have decided to come bring the fight to us."

"Ha," Wanda sneered as she squirmed in her pain. "And the mad tyrant shall fall."

Loki took one glance at her before he nonchalantly fired a devastating blast from his scepter at her. It was like being burned alive and her inside being torn apart. Wanda screamed in agonizing pain, barely able to keep her probability defenses up. She was desperately trying to hang onto her powers, for she knew that if Loki got them, the Earth was screwed.

"Ymir, you will stand with us when they come," Loki commanded. "As will these Jotun with you. Amora, be a dear and summon the Destroyer back to our ranks. As for you four," he added as he turned to the superhumans under his command, "this will be your greatest test of loyalty. Stand by my side and you shall gain a great privilege in this world."

"You don't need to tell us twice," Wrecker sneered as his fellow criminals nodded in agreement.

"By the time they arrive, I should have drained the mortal of her powers and-"

"Thor."

Loki snapped back to the Enchantress. "What did you say?"

"One of the mortals," Amora said as she turned to face Loki, her eyes no longer glowing, "is…Thor."

Loki was stunned for a moment, shocked by the news. Then, he smirked deviously. "Well, things have gotten quite more…interesting."

* * *

***Empire State Building, same time***

**17:04 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Wait…what?" Jan gasped.

"Did I hear that right?" Hawkeye said, looking to Spider-Man standing next to him. "Did you hear him say what I think he said?"

"Well, unless he said he just got 15% of car insurance by switching to Geico, then yeah, I did," the arachnid replied, to which Barton face palmed.

"You're…you're his brother?" Iron Man asked as he came to Cap's side, his visor retracting.

Thor sighed and nodded his head. "Yes…I am."

"JARVIS?"

'Scans show that he has no superhuman or supernatural abilities about him, sir,' the AI replied.

"Loki was able to manhandle all of us," Steve said. "Even the Hulk and Captain Marvel. He was able to make us all look like fools when he mopped the floor with us, and he did so with his powers. Apparently, you don't have any powers. And not only that, you don't look anything like him at all, and brothers usually show some kind resemblance. You really don't have any resemblance."

"Because we are not of the same species," Thor replied.

"Then how are you brothers?" Logan asked gruffly. "Besides, you look and smell like a typical do-gooder kind of guy. That Loki guy is an insane psychopath with a god complex who is also a homicidal maniac with no disregard for life."

"Have care for how you speak," Thor replied with anger, surprising the heroes. "Loki may beyond reason, but he is family, and my brother."

"He's invading Earth and has allowed probably hundreds of people to be killed," Captain Marvel deadpanned.

"…He's adopted."

"So that's how you're brothers?" Peter asked.

"Indeed, Spider-Man," Thor replied.

"But Loki isn't of this world!" Stark said. "I scanned Loki, and even though he looks human, his biological complexion is nothing like a human's! Different anatomy, different system make-ups, and don't even get me started on the lungs! Different muscle density and everything! My scanning of your biology is exactly like a human biological complexion! How can he be your brother if he's like that and you're…this?"

"Well, he did say they were different species," Yellowjacket pointed out.

"How are we to believe what you're saying, Thor," Cap asked, getting all attention back on the topic at hand.

"Because I can tell you that it's the truth," Jane interjected. All eyes focused on her, but she continued. "Three years ago, I was in New Mexico studying data I was collecting on the Einstein-Rosen bridge theory with my intern and my old professor. A wormhole suddenly appeared in the sky and Thor here appeared. About five minutes later, another wormhole appeared five miles away and something else crashed in the desert. But we were focused on Thor, and he kept babbling about Bifrost and Heimdall and Asgard…my professor, Dr. Erik Selvig, recognized it as related to Norse mythology. And then there were these runes that had appeared at the site that Thor had appeared in, Nordic runes. At first, we didn't know what was going on-we just thought he was crazy so he took him to the hospital. He almost broke out and trashed the place, so he had to take him out. He wanted to go back home, but when we offered him a ride he said we couldn't take him. Then he asked if a hammer had appeared with him, and we said no, but that something else had crashed deeper in the desert. He headed there, and I had to drive him. It was the hammer he was talking about, but when he tried to lift it, he couldn't, and he kind of yelled to the skies."

"I know what she's talking about," Jess interrupted. "SHIELD picked up anomalies in the New Mexico desert and when we converged on the scene, we found those runes and the hammer. We set up a quarantine area around it and we've been trying to figure it out and get it out of the ground since."

"For three years," Natalia agreed, and the other SHIELD agents nodded.

"You will not be able to lift it," Thor said. "Only those deemed worthy can lift Mjolnir. And I was the only one…until I was deemed unworthy when I sparked a war between Asgard and Jotunheim in my arrogance and my desire to be crowned king before I was ready."

"Worthy? Well, if someone had told us that, we would've saved a lot of money trying to pick it up," Barton muttered.

"Anyways," Jane continued, "the hammer had Nordic inscriptions on it that Selvig was able to distinguish. On the hammer was the name Thor. That's when everything started to make sense-his story, his confusion in our world when we found him, his old fashioned speaking and his…really hot body…um, oh, right-and then his explanation of this World Tree that the Vikings used to speak about. It pretty much simplified the field of wormhole study in only a few minutes. The stories he told, his violent nature…it all fit with what he claimed to be. Loki is his adopted brother; he is actually the same species of the Jotun."

"He's one of those things?!" Bobbi exclaimed.

"Then why isn't he tall, ugly and blue?" Peter asked.

"Because he was a deformed infant when my father found him after the war my people waged against the Jotun for possession of the Casket of Ancient Winters hundreds of millennia ago," Thor answered. "He is not of my species…he is not of Asgard. I am. I…I am Thor Odinson, the Norse God of Thunder."

The heroes were silent for a few minutes.

"Huh…puny god," Hulk muttered.

"I kind of have to agree with Hulk," Carol agreed. "Loki said he was a god, too, and he was a bit…strong, to say the least. You…yeah I'm sorry, you have godly good looks, but I don't think you're a god."

"And we work with a god," Spider Woman said. "Phobos…good kid, but he needs to stop with the creepy stares."

"I assure you all, heroes, I am indeed a god, as is Loki," Thor replied. "I said I was deemed unworthy of Mjolnir when I sparked war. When I was deemed unworthy…my father, Odin, removed all of my godly abilities and my control of thunder and lightning, and cast me out of Asgard and unto Midgard. He made me mortal as a punishment for my actions, and I have lived with it for three years…which are long, I have noticed since I'm no longer immortal."

"So…you have no powers at all," Cap said, "and yet you want to help us. Why?"

"Because you need my help, Captain America," Thor answered. "Loki is a god bent on conquest. He believes it is his right to rule on a throne, and he believes Asgard is rightfully his. Because of this, he has no regard for anything that will not benefit his will. The Enchantress and the Executioner help him, but one day he will sever his ties to them because they will indeed one day be of no more use to him. He views mortals as less than nothing, and he will not hesitate to slaughter your kind in droves if you resist him. All he wants is a throne, and he will stop at nothing to gain it. Your world is in danger, and Loki is the single greatest threat Midgard may ever face in its history. Of all life on Midgard at the moment, only I have ever faced him and managed to win. He has made to conquer Asgard many times, and has failed. Odin hopes he can redeem himself one day, but I see that…it may not be possible. And though I love him as my brother, I will not allow a realm to burn for his satisfaction. I see Midgard as a home now, and that is what it is, as I have been banished from Asgard. As a god, I tell you that your chances of defeating Loki are slim. I can help you. Will you let me?"

* * *

***SHIELD Helicarrier UNS Odyssey, 1800ft above the United Nations complex***

**17:07 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"So you are really going to put your trust in…a group of superhuman &amp; mutant vigilantes?"

"The fate of the world is now in their hands?"

"At the moment, we have no other choice, Council," Fury retorted, folding his arms. "We have no idea what is going on down there other that the fact that these creatures are causing massive destruction all across Manhattan. The entirety of the island is in chaos, and we've gotten reports of a giant robot causing destruction across Uptown, which is something we have no idea of any kind about. These heroes and vigilantes are currently the only organized force on the entirety of Manhattan that has actually managed to do anything since this invasion began."

Director Fury brought up a virtual satellite feed of the island of Manhattan, which showed exactly how badly damaged each section of Manhattan really was. "SHIELD forces are deploying as we speak, and we're going to be focusing on the creatures across the island, and the local NYPD and the arriving American Armed Forces are also doing the same. I've activated SHIELD Protocol 10-Omega shutdown. As we do this, those heroes and vigilantes, aided by the Warriors on scene, will be able to put all their focus on the ones leading this invasion."

On the screens Fury was facing from his Director's Stand, a digitalized view of nine sub screens was visible, each connected to the Helicarrier's feed via advanced video conferencing technology. Each screen held the face of one of the nine members of the United Nations' World Security Council, the political head of SHIELD. The members were chosen from the nations of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Egypt. And, like in many previous occasions, they didn't approve of Fury's response method for this incident.

"Director Fury," the French Councilman said. "This Council has made it clear time and again that we are not in approval of these so-called 'Secret Warriors.' Ever since your predecessor began the…concept of this black-ops team, it has been a point each incarnation of the Council was vocal against. We had hoped that your succession of Victoria Hand would've brought some changes, but after many instances we see that we were wrong. Though we approve of certain agents such as Barton and Morse, the Council has been vocal against Romanova since 1981. The Exo-7 that Agent Wilson employs is debatable. Even with Captain Rogers' track record, we were vocal against his being in your current unit. And then there is the point of adding superhumans and mutants…both you and Hand seem to have some sort of fixation on them. Adding superhumans such as Agent Drew and Agent Johnson, and then going so far as to recruit a child of a Greek God-!"

"Councilman, the ideas that Victoria Hand brought to SHIELD and their effects on today really don't pertain to the current situation," Fury interrupted, "so if there's a point to all this, then can we-?"

"What Councilman Hans is trying to say, Director," the Brazilian Councilwoman said, "is that the Council is wondering if your decisions to handle this invasion are indeed worthwhile. Given your track-"

"The world is still spinning," Fury retorted. "I'd say that's enough of a track record."

"Is it too hard to look for other options?" the British Councilwoman replied. "Director, you cannot simply put your trust in these superhumans and mutants!"

"We have no choice!"

"Yes, we do," the Japanese Councilman retorted. "You just will not accept them. You know very well that SHIELD barely tolerates these superhuman and mutant vigilantes-!"

"No, that's the OFFICIAL stance," Fury replied. "I think they're a benefit that SHIELD and SWORD can't bear to be without."

"Director, the Council is making a decision," the Councilman from Egypt said. "We need to consider what will happened if these creatures breach the perimeter that you have established around Manhattan; who are we to say that these are all the creatures there? We must strike at the source."

"You aren't serious," Fury gasped angrily, realizing what he was saying.

"The Helicarrier is equipped for such capabilities; once it is out of range, it is-"

"No."

"Director," the Chinese Councilman said. "By the order of the Council, that jet is to be scrambled-!"

"THAT IS THE ISLAND OF MANHATTAN!" Fury yelled angrily. "There are still millions of people down there, along with SHIELD personnel, and US military personnel! I will NOT order a nuclear strike against a civilian population. That is non-negotiable."

"Plus, I highly doubt the President will approve of the United Nations nuking America's greatest city," the American Councilman, Alexander Pierce, interjected. "I motion for the nuclear option to be denied. However, there are other methods, Director Fury. Perhaps the Insight satellite tracking programs-"

"Those satellites are specifically designed for Project: Insight, Councilman," Fury replied, "which is still in the developing stages."

"There is one other option," the Councilman of Saudi Arabia offered. "The ARC Cannon."

Fury stared. "The ARC Cannon?"

"The force of a nuclear weapon without the fallout radiation and the massive destruction a nuclear weapon would give. Stark Industries' final greatest military achievement before the arrival of Iron Man."

"The ARC Cannon is supposed to be a last resort weapon, Council. And we are not out of options."

"Director Fury-" Pierce began.

"Council, I'd like to return to the important matter at hand-saving Manhattan and the world from the destruction of a mad man. Good-bye." And with that, Fury shut the feed off and returned to directing the SHIELD-US effort to contain and combat the Frost Giants.

* * *

***En route to Central Park, 10 minutes later***

**17:16 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

The MetLife Tower had seen better days, to say the least.

The grounds surrounding it, once a lovely and tranquil outdoor café and walking grounds for pedestrians, were now chaotic fields of destruction as the Jotun continued their destruction; the forces of the NYPD, of SHIELD and of the US military, however, were fighting back with vengeance. Fighter jets, attack choppers, battalions of ground forces and Mandroids flooded Manhattan in an effort to combat the invaders. The Jotun had never seen such enemies and were caught unprepared by their bullets and missiles and lasers. But as Jotuns, they retaliated. A group nearby had managed to grab a USAF chopper by the tail as it had lowered itself to fire missiles, and it threw the aircraft into another chopper, enticing a massive explosion. The debris joined the rush of chaos that filled the streets. The café had not been attacked by the Jotun yet, but the people outside racing inside for shelter were bound to draw their attention soon. Or so was thought.

One of the café waitresses noticed a young woman caught under the tables in the chaos the Jotun were causing, and she instantly raced out to get her and send her racing for the café. Unfortunately, this was when the Jotun finally noticed the café, and they attacked with a frenzy. The waitress was caught in the falling debris, screaming in horror.

"BETH!" another waitress screamed from the café entrance. The waitress, named Beth, saw the Jotun smash the side of the building and the debris falling right at her, and she went into a crouch to accept her death-

Only to be slammed into the ground and shielded by what she saw to be a man in a blue &amp; white uniform with a shield, the shield protecting them both from the debris. She gasped when she realized who her savior was.

"Keep your head down!" Captain America yelled. Meanwhile, the Jotun were then viciously attacked by the energy blasts of Captain Marvel and the missiles of Iron Man. They let out vicious roars of pain as they were hit repeatedly. Then a volley of arrows and bullets and stingers reigned on them and then they were hit with blurred punches. Each of them collapsed, either badly hurt or dead.

"Well, what now?!" Wasp yelled as she flew past, Yellowjacket and Spider Woman in tow. "I think there are only about…100,000 left!"

"We stick to the plan!" Stark yelled as he flew past, with Spider-Man close behind with Thor hanging on as he swung through the streets. "We head to Central Park and bring the fight to them! JARVIS has them pinpointed there, and they have the Scarlet Witch!"

"Let us make haste then!" Quicksilver said as he slowed down, revealing that Jane Foster was clinging to him on his back. "We must save Wanda and ensure that Loki doesn't take her powers! The last time someone tried that, the entire mutant race was almost eradicated!"

"Yeah, don' remind me!" Logan yelled. Although, that incident did help him get his memories back...

"Let's move, team!" Cap yelled as he joined the other heroes in their race to get to Central Park. As he ran, he turned back to the waitress named Beth and yelled, "Get out of the street! It's not safe!"

The 14 heroes and their two guests continued their mad dash for Central Park. They, of course, did what they could to stop any and all Jotun that they found in their path. They were protectors and heroes, after all. Why wouldn't they try to? All around them, the chaos of the invasion continued, but it was being fought back now. With SHIELD and the US Armed Forces now on scene to back up the NYPD, they could now lay down some serious firepower.

"Head's up!" Peter yelled as he fired a number of web lines at a Jotun making to throw a crowded bus. The webbing caught the bus as it was flung, just before it hit the ground.

"I got it!" Wolverine roared as he dashed up and jumped, slicing away at the Jotun's junk. It barely managed to release a scream of pain before a giant Wasp rammed a fist into its face, knocking him out.

"This isn't going to help us get there as soon as possible!" Spider Woman yelled out.

"She is right, there are too many Jotun!" Thor agreed. "By the time we get there, Loki could have already acquired the powers of the Scarlet Witch!"

"Then let's send a friendly welcome gift ahead of us!" Stark decided. "Hulk, how about you knock and let them know they have company?!"

"Sounds fun!" Hulk sneered.

"Save some action for the rest of us, Banner!" Logan yelled before the Hulk suddenly leapt into the air and began massive jumps towards Central Park.

* * *

***Central Park***

**17:18 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

With an explosive puff of green smoke, the Destroyer appeared, its rampage of destruction in the portion of Uptown that Hulk had thrown it to now over. "The fact that one of their number can so easily stand against the Destroyer is of concern," Amora stated as she turned to Loki. "That instantly removes our greatest weapon from our advantage."

"But we have other advantages," the Trickster smirked as he turned to a nearly unconscious Scarlet Witch. "Their most dangerous asset is now under our power, and will soon no longer be a threat. Their brutish monster can be handled by the Executioner, and remember…they cannot stand against me and my power. Besides, we have the advantage of numbers," he added as he gestured to the Jotun and the four magically endowed supervillians. "They weren't able to succeed against our lackeys when there were only four of them. They weren't able to stand against the Jotun even when they were united. To stand against them all as they are forced to be divided…hmmm, I believe the victory is ours."

"Not…not yet…" Wanda gasped, her energy just about spent from channeling her abilities into her probability manipulation, keeping her powers safe from Loki. She didn't think she was going to be able to resist any longer, though. Channeling such power in an effort like this was too much of a strain for her. She was going to collapse at any moment, she was going to faint under the strain, and then…all would be lost.

"Oh I believe quite so, my dear," Loki taunted as he began twirling his scepter. "I have the advantage of godhood, and in the arts of magic. I have advantage of numbers. Your allies were unable to stand against me at their strongest. Your city burns in the background. Where is my disadvantage?"

"We…we…" Wanda gasped.

"We what?" Loki taunted.

"We…have a Hulk."

"HULK SMASH PUNY GOD!"

**FRAKAKABOOM!**

The invaders didn't even have time to register the words and turn around before the Hulk landed a devastating smashing hit on Loki, creating a deep crater in the ground as a result of the impact, which resonated for miles. The sonic shockwave managed to send the Jotun, the Enchantress, the Executioner and the four supervillians flying back dozens of feet. Hulk paid no attention to this, however; all he was focused on was landing haymaker after haymaker on Loki's face and torso. Engulfed by the rage and anger, the Hulk and Bruce Banner worked as one conscious to deliver the blows to Loki. Suddenly, a flash of green light burst out as an energy blast fired from the crater and sent the Hulk flying.

"YOU DARE STRIKE A GOD, YOU DULL CREATURE!" Loki roared, his helmet fallen off and his scepter on the ground at his feet, but both his hands glowing with magical energy. "ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU THE ERROR OF YOUR WAYS!" His only response was a roar and a charging bum rush. Loki took great joy in firing devastating and powerful magic blasts at the Hulk, sending him crashing onto the ground. Loki was then really shocked when the ground he was standing on began shaking violently and was soon lifted from the Earth itself. Hulk had grabbed a portion of the ground itself and lifted it up. With a roar, he threw it at the Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer.

"JOTUN!" Ymir roared. "SLAY THIS CREATURE!" At that, the Frost Giants roared in fury and a desire for vengeance from their previous battle with the heroes and all charged to attack. Hulk saw them coming, however, and responded accordingly with a vicious thunderclap, the shockwaves sending the Jotun flying back in the direction they were coming from. With a roar, the Hulk grabbed one of the boulder rocks found in Central Park and ripped it out of the ground, flinging it at the Executioner. Hulk then saw Wanda, and made to go over and help, when he stopped in his tracks and stood up straight, his eyes now turning an emerald green.

"Now, my pet brute," Amora said in a sultry and seductive voice as she approached the titan with a sway to her hips, her hand glowing with emerald magic energy. "You may prove to be of use to us in our cause. You're allies will no doubt be here soon, so when they arrive, I want you to lay waste to them for me, and make sure that not one of them is left standing to-"

"No…" the Hulk strained to say, his fists balling up and a strained look on his face.

"What?!" Amora exclaimed, shocked by this. "How-how are-?!"

"NO ONE…CONTROLS THE HULK!" Hulk roared savagely as he landed a vicious uppercut on the Enchantress, her screams loud and clear as she went flying into the nearby trees and crashing into another of the boulder formations.

"FALL, BEAST!" Executioner roared as he leapt at the Hulk with his ax in hand, landing a vicious swing and leaving nasty slash on the Hulk's chest. Executioner made to deliver another hit, but was suddenly bombarded with vicious energy blasts from the skies.

"They're here!" Wrecker exclaimed as he, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer got up, their eyes to the sky. Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Wasp, Yellowjacket and Spider Woman came zooming down from the skies with their energy blasts, repulsors and stingers firing at full power, landing hits on Executioner and the now returning Frost Giants.

"Destroyer!" Loki commanded as he got up from the ground, his scepter back in hand and his helmet being put back on his head. "Destroy them all!" At his words, the metallic juggernaut came to life and began entering the battle. Instead of using its vicious energy blast, though, it simply ripped another boulder formation from the ground and flung it at the airborne heroes, who barely dodged in time as they landed onto the ground.

"Captain Marvel!" Iron Man yelled as he fired his uni-beam at an Enchantress trying to get back up. "He's all yours!"

"Don't mind if I do!" Carol yelled with glee as she rammed at the Destroyer with all her strength-only for the Destroyer to grab her by the face and slam her head first into the ground, and followed up by slamming its metallic foot onto her back. Carol's roar of agony and pain reflected greatly just how powerful a hit that was, but she wasn't done yet. As the juggernaut made to use its foot again, she blasted a photon blast to its face, surprising it momentarily and allowing her to land a devastating uppercut to its head. "C'mon, hit me with that blast of yours! Make this interesting!"

"Gentlemen," Loki commanded to his four superhuman lackeys. "Give our visitors a proper greeting."

"Will do, Loki!" Wrecker exclaimed as he and the other three raced into the battle.

"Hey, heroes!" Piledriver yelled out. "Let's see you take us on!"

"Executioner, deal with the beast." Loki's only answer was Skurge attacking the Hulk savagely with ax swing after ax swing, Hulk fighting back one smashing haymaker after another. Loki smirked, convinced that the battle was now definitely one…until he was suddenly slammed in the face by a punch he never saw coming that came at lightning speeds, and it wasn't just one punch. Loki didn't even register it yet as he was bombarded by more blinding punches, empowered by the momentum of near supersonic speeds, and a final punch sent Loki crashing into the ground, which had been the moment Loki just began to realize he was hit.

"You will release my sister, monster," Quicksilver snarled as he took up an offensive stance. "And you will not have her powers."

Loki's response was to blast him with his scepter. "I will do no such thing, mortal! However, I will perhaps do you the courtesy of being killed by her abilities once I acquire them. Can you not see that I am your superior?!"

"You sound like our father," Pietro smirked as he raced up and slammed another fist into Loki's face, only to be whacked in his own face with the scepter.

"…Pietro…" Wanda barely managed to say, but her voice was hoarse, reflecting just how bad she was at the moment, now ready to give into the strain at any moment and unwillingly surrendering her mutant and arcane abilities to Loki.

Meanwhile, Iron Man, Spider Woman, Yellowjacket and Wasp were each doing battle with Wrecker, Piledriver, Bulldozer and Thunderball. Both Pym and Jan had gone supersized to be able to better battle the villains. They were giving it their all, but these four villains were enchanted with the abilities of gods, and they were no easy fight. Stark's Iron Man armor only gave so much superhuman strength capabilities, and Spider Woman was nowhere near their power level. The Pym Particles were able to increase strength, stamina and durability to superhuman levels, but not on par with the villains. "This isn't going very well!" Jan yelled as she landed a hit on Piledriver, only for the villain to grab her fist and push back.

"Yes, thank you for stating the obvious, Wasp!" Jess yelled back as she barely evaded a hit from Wrecker's crowbar, retaliating with a dual venom blast. "Where the bloody hell are the others?!"

"They'll be here, so stay focused on the ones in front of you!" Stark replied, barely activating his deflector shields in time to withstand Bulldozer's insanely strong bum rush, the collision actually causing Stark's form to be sent back, his armored boots dragging in the ground. "Damn, this guy is strong!"

"They all are, Stark! Thanks for stating the obvious!" Pym yelled as he grabbed Thunderball's face and rammed it into the ground, only to be sent crashing into the ground himself by the villain retaliating by throwing his ball &amp; chain at the hero, impacting on his chest.

"HANK!" Wasp yelled, distracted enough for Piledriver to viciously grab her leg and force her giant form down, enticing a yell of pain from the heroine.

"Say goodnight, biiiiaaaaaaaaAAUUUGHHH!" Piledriver roared, suddenly attacked by an arriving Wolverine, his claws embedded into the villain's flesh again. Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Mockingbird, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Jane and Thor arrived onto the scene also. "GET OFF ME, ASSHOLE!" Piledriver roared, desperately trying to grab at the mutant on his back as he began bleeding from the wounds.

"Ok, you asked for it!" Logan yelled as he ripped his claws out of the wounds, making the villain yell out even more. At that moment, Barton fired two explosive arrows at the wounds, the resulting explosions further hurting the villain, allowing Cap to fling his shield at his face.

"About time you guys got here!" Stark yelled as he and the other three converged with the arriving heroes. Addressing Thor and Jane, he said, "Ok you two, things are about to get very crazy in just a few minutes, so I think it'd be best if you both stay out of the way."

"Yeah, I think that sounds like a good idea," Jane agreed instantly.

"But-" Thor tried to argue.

"Iron Man is right," Cap agreed. "Even if you are who you say you are, you're definitely in no condition to go up against these kinds of psychos. You both need to stay out of the way. That is an order. As for the rest of you," he added as he turned his attention to the other heroes, "this is where we make out stand. Here we show these goons just how Earth responds to threats like this. You are all heroes, each in your own right. And you are amongst the greatest heroes out there. I'm honored to be fighting by your side. Now, let's show this Loki guy some New York attitude!"

"I'm not from New York," Widow and Spider Woman pointed out.

"Neither am I, but I ain' sayin' nothin'," Logan retorted. Just then, a bright green light flashed as Loki sent Quicksilver flying into the nearby trees. His scepter and his hand glowing with energy, he rose into the skies with a cackle, the Jotun now returning to his side as did the Enchantress, Wrecker, a bleeding Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer, with the Destroyer and Executioner battling Captain Marvel and the Hulk, respectively, in the background.

"So," Loki yelled with a laugh as he touched down and twirled his scepter. "Once more, you mortals make to defy me! What will it take to make you realize that you are nothing to me?! I am your better, in every sense of the word! I am stronger, smarter and more cunning! You mortals have no hope of stopping me!"

"Well, forgive us if we wish to prove you wrong," Panther replied defiantly, pulling out his last two vibranium daggers, connecting and extending them to form a dual bladed staff. "We shall not surrender to the likes of you, Loki. We will stand until our last breath, and that will not come so easily. You simply fight for conquest, while we fight for our right of freedom."

"As my good friend Churchill said, we shall never surrender," Captain America confirmed.

"This is your last chance, Loki," Stark demanded. "Surrender."

"I have a better idea," Loki smirked. "Instead, I shall teach and instill unto you all just how foolish it is too deal with a god…especially one with an army at his back. Destroy them all!" And with a yell of war, the Jotun, Wrecker, Piledriver, Bulldozer and Thunderball charged, their weapons ready.

"LET'S MOVE!" Captain America yelled out as he, Iron Man, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Black Widow, Wolverine, Black Panther, Spider Woman and Spider-Man charged. The impact was titanic as Thor and Jane saw from their cover position in the nearby trees. With the whine of repulsors and the sounds and thwips of blasts and webs, with the SNIKT of claws and clicks of staffs and guns, and the whiz of arrows, the assembled heroes unleashed every inch of hell that they could muster. They rammed themselves into the Jotun and the four supervillians, not being cautious in any way or form. Their home was at stake, and they would do anything and everything possible to save it. With the agility and skill and expertise that they each possessed, they moved as one unit and struck viciously.

"This will not do," Amora smirked. With that, she teleported right into the heat of the battle and blasted a vicious emerald wave of magic, sending the heroes flying. All except Spider-Man, whose Spider-Sense allowed him to dodge just in time. "So, you must be the newcomer Ymir spoke of," she sneered.

"And YOU must be crazy to be wearing only one color," Peter quipped in reply. "Seriously, even that tiara is green; even your lipstick is green! You have no fashion sense at all, girlfriend. You and Gobby would make quite the team-up, though!"

"Be silent!" the villainess shot back as she fired a magic blast, only for him to dodge and cover her face completely with webbing.

"Sorry, lady, no can do! And I think you pissed off my new best friend!"

"What is this disgusting thing?!" Amora yelled as she tried to remove the adhesive. "And what is this gibberish you speak of?!"

"He means me!" Jess shouted as she dealt a snap kick to her face, announcing her arrival. "Mess with one spider, you mess with them all!" Both arachnids then immediately worked together in battling Amora, signaling to the others that they would be handling her as the other heroes took on the four supervillians and the Jotun.

"Well, while this is going along," Loki mused as he turned back to his prisoner, "I believe I shall continue to work on taking the witch's powers and-" He never finished as he was hit by a super-fast cyclone of fists, signaling Quicksilver's return. His costume was now tattered in various places and his white hair was filthy and messy, but his face held only determination, fury, and brotherly instinct.

"YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING!" he yelled as he delivered a rapid flurry of combos and punches. With his speed, Loki was unable to effectively block any of his hits. But Loki simply smirked and created a trio of illusions, surprising the mutant enough for him to fire a blast from his scepter.

Meanwhile Cap, Stark, Hawkeye, Widow, Mockingbird, Logan, Wasp, Pym and Panther were in vicious combat with the Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer, as well as the Frost Giants. Thankfully, with SHIELD, the NYPD and the US Army keeping all the other Frost Giants busy across Manhattan, they only had to worry about these 30 here. Stark was busy taking on Ymir, unleashing vicious repulsor blasts and utilizing the remaining missiles in his armor's arsenal. Ymir was an apt opponent, however, and he was not going to surrender to Iron Man so easily. With his Jotun strength, the giant threw punch after punch and swung his ice scythes in mad attempts to cut Stark in half, and it was only by his deflector shield that the weapon wasn't gutting him. The two were locked in fierce battle, technology facing against magical giants.

'Sir, shield levels are stable, but the power levels to sustain them are dropping,' JARVIS stated as Stark fired his uni-beam, flying after the giant's flying form in the sky to land a powerful metallic punch to his jaw. 'We are currently at 68% power for shielding.'

"Then recharge, dammit!" Stark yelled as he was then sent crashing into the ground by a vicious backhand from Ymir. "I don't think the armor can take much more hits like that!"

Cap, Panther, Logan and Yellowjacket had divided Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver and Bulldozer amongst them, respectively. Cap was managing to hold his own against Wrecker, able to block all attacks from his crowbar with his shield. The Super Soldier Serum had made Steve into the pinnacle of human ability, and it was visible very easily from how Cap fought the Wrecker. With near superhuman agility, he successfully dodged many of Wrecker's punches and crowbar attacks, blocking the others with his shield. Cap repeatedly rammed his shield into the villain's face at every chance he could. As Wrecker made to deliver a vicious back handed crowbar swing, Steve managed to bring his shield up to block it just in time, the impact of the crowbar and the shield still sending him flying, but not as much. Cap landed on his feet and threw his shield at the charging villain, dashing up to deliver an uppercut to the jaw as Wrecker was dazed from the hit.

Logan and Thunderball were also in fierce combat; the feral mutant had managed to lay about a dozen slices and slashed on the villain in simply the first few minutes of their combat. Enraged, Thunderball continuously swung his ball and chain madly, but Logan skillfully dodged each attack, utilizing hit 215+ years of combat and war experience to evade and counter. With a punch backed up by the thickness of his adamantium laced skeleton, Wolverine delivered a mighty blow to Thunderball's solar plexus, causing the villain to stagger back. This gave Logan the chance to deliver a strike with his claws at the ball &amp; chain, hoping to sever the chain from the ball and remove its effectiveness as a weapon. To his shock, his claws couldn't even make a dent. Thunderball realized that Enchantress' magic must've also enhanced his ball &amp; chain too, and a laugh, he managed to land a hit on Logan and send him crashing into a nearby boulder formation. Thunderball raced over to finish it off, only to be met by a slash to the face.

Black Panther, meanwhile, was engaged with Bulldozer. Thanks to constant ingestion of the Heart-Shaped Herb of Wakanda, his abilities and skills were enhanced to near superhuman levels. His vibranium claws and his dual blades staff also helped him greatly. With swings and slashes and the expertise of the Wakandan Arts fighting styles, T'Challa relentlessly attacked the villain. Bulldozer, however, was unwilling to stop, and he madly delivered devastating punches and charged any chance he could, with Panther barely able to dodge all of them in time. He was well aware that while his uniform was laced with vibranium, it wouldn't stand up to a hit like the ones Bulldozer was delivering. As the villain again threw a punch only to hit the ground, Panther jumped onto his back and slashed away at his back with his claws, enticing roars of pain. Jumping off, he took his staff and delivered a slashing hit at Bulldozer's helmet, hoping that it would slice the inferior metal apart. It didn't even make a dent, and Bulldozer realized that the magics that gave him his powers must've also enchanted his helmet to be indestructible. With a vicious laugh, Bulldozer charged, only for Panther to dodge and land a vicious crippling punch at his knee, attacking the joint and enticing a roar of pain.

Yellowjacket was alternating between his size changes as he battled Piledriver, going from small to giant sized in the blink of an eye. He was taking advantage of the slashes that Wolverine had left as he ambushed the villain just earlier, bombarding the wounds with his bio stings, enticing roars of pain from the villain. He also delivered powerful haymakers in his giant form, shrinking quickly back into his smaller form to keep Piledriver unable to hit him with his own much more powerful hits. Pym managed to fire another round of stinger blasts before Piledriver managed to get a hit and backhanded him, sending him flying into the trees. Returning to normal size, Pym saw Piledriver rushing him with his fists ready to lay waste to him. Quickly, Pym activated a small communications mechanism in his cowl and entered one command: attack. Within a dozen seconds, Piledriver was swamped with millions of ants and wasps and other insects attacking him. Suddenly focused on getting all these insects off him, Piledriver never saw Yellowjacket's massive foot until it hit him.

Hawkeye, Black Widow, Wasp and Mockingbird, meanwhile, were dealing with the other Jotun. Only being three humans and one superhuman against about 30 creatures of superhuman strength and durability, these certainly weren't favorable odds. But Clint, Bobbi and Natalia were used to those kinds of odds and had always prevailed, and Wasp was no quitter. Working as one unit, they unleashed hell onto their opponents. Battle staves connected as one, Mockingbird pole-vaulted over the giants and used quick analysis to determine their weak points, landing crippling blows on their joints with her staff. With her petite and slender form, she was easily able to dodge all the attacks the Jotun threw her way. Hawkeye fired as many arrows as he could, sending explosive, incendiary, adamantium tipped, sonic, smoke bomb and electrical arrows at any Jotun in his sights, relentlessly pressing his attacks. Sliding in the grass with the help of the smoothness of his legwear and boots, he was able to slide under and fire arrows at the Jotuns' genitals, causing twice as much pain.

Widow was down to her last two M27 cartridges, but she was still as deadly as she was beautiful. Holstering her machine gun onto her back, she took out her 45 handguns and began firing at any and all Jotun in her path. With the help of her Widow stings and her KGB/Red Room enhanced physical attributes, she was able to dodge and dish out with amazing results, sowing confusion and blind fury amongst the ranks of the Jotun. Wasp, however, was going for a more direct approach, going immediately into her giant form and delivering powerful punches and short ranged sting blasts. Taller than the Jotun now, she was a clear target, but she didn't make it easy for them, as her attacks were well coordinated and like a blitzkrieg.

All the while, Captain Marvel was again holding her own against the Destroyer. She was still souped up on its energy blasts from earlier, but the energy was wearing off. And apparently, their enemies had wised up to her tactic against the metallic juggernaut, because the Destroyer was not firing its energy blasts at her at all-it was now going for a solely physical approach, delivering vicious and earth shattering punches left and right. Carol was able to evade many of them, but a few still managed to hit her. Her energy blasts, so far greatly enhanced by the Destroyer's blasts, were slowly losing the power boost and returning to her normal energy blast output. Her punches and kicks, though very powerful, did less and less damage as the energy wore off. If the Destroyer didn't shoot her with a blast soon, Carol feared she many not actually be able to hold it off much longer.

Hulk, meanwhile, was in a game of fist-meets-ax chicken with the Executioner, and neither was looking to give up any time soon. Their traded punches and elemental ax swings echoed across Central Park. Hulk's vicious roars of fury and pain were reflected by the occasional vicious cries of war and pain that Skurge gave out as he took Hulk's hits. They had caused multiple craters of damage and had destroyed a good portion of the part in Central Park that the heroes and invaders were battling in. Hulk's thick skin had multiple scars that were bleeding courtesy of his enemy's ax. Skurge's armor was half destroyed due to Hulk's vicious and all-mighty hits and punches. But this did nothing to deter them from what was currently important to them-beating the living crap out of each other. Unrelenting and undeterred, the monster and the god continued their clash, punches and ax blows trading blood and power.

All this was witness by Thor and Jane as they watched from their cover in the trees nearby. Jane was quite frankly terrified; before her eyes, actual gods were waging war against the Earth for conquest and destruction, and the only ones able to stand in their way were 15 of the world's heroes, and one of them was their prisoner. From what Thor had told her, the Asgardian rogues were some of the greatest threats Asgard and the other realms had faced in all of time. Loki had almost at one point managed to overthrow Thor's father. Here, they were faced with heroes who couldn't hope to come close to taking on someone of Loki's power.

Thor meanwhile, was in awe at the scene before him. In his time spent on Earth, living with mortals, he had come to see that mankind had a spirit of resistance inside them, one that refused to let them fall to their knee without surrender. Before him, some of the greatest protectors of Midgard had united as one to fight off an enemy that was too much for them and were unwilling to surrender. Thor knew that there were many heroes on Midgard across the globe, and he was always marveled by their compassion and heroism. They would truly make fine warriors if they were of Asgard.

"WHY DO YOU NOT FALL!?" Amora screamed as she fired another magic blast at the two arachnids, only to miss.

"Why do you dress like a slut?" Jess replied as she fired a venom blast.

"You DARE insult my-!" Amora was suddenly interrupted by a sound: a version of "Itsy Bitsy Spider" playing on a phone…and it was coming from Spider-Man's waistline.

"Oops, gotta take this!" Peter quipped as he webbed Enchantress' arm and sent her flying into the air for Spider Woman to deliver a kick at her. "Oh, man, where does the time go…? Hello? Uh, hi, Aunt May…no, I'm fine…yeah, I'm in Manhattan…um well, I kinda got caught up in the whole thing-great responsibility, you know?"

"How can you be on the phone at a time like this?!" Jess yelled as she dropped to the ground to avoid Amora's magic blasts.

"You need to realize, I AM VICTORIOUS," Loki sneered as he grabbed Pietro by the throat, having easily beaten him with the use of his illusions and his trickery. At that, he unceremoniously threw the mutant to where the Scarlet Witch was still dangling as his prisoner, nearly at the point of surrendering against the massive strains that Loki was putting on her to steal her powers and arcane abilities. "I have almost broken your wench of a sister's will and resistance. At any moment, I will take her abilities for myself, and with them I will rule the Nine Realms with an iron fist. There is nothing you can do to stop it. All of you mortals combined could do nothing against me, and you think you alone can stand against me?!"

"…Pietro…" Wanda gasped, just about ready to go unconscious. She had tried her hardest, but it was to no avail; her powers were going to be robbed of her, and she could do nothing. "G-go…save your-…"

"I will not abandon you, Wanda," Pietro retorted, struggling to get up to face Loki again. "Not as long as I live."

"That is easily fixed," Loki sneered as he came over and again grabbed his throat. His free hand began glowing dangerously with godly magical energy. "If you wish to die to fail to save this mortal wench, then so be it, mortal!" Loki yelled as he made to blast Pietro-only to have his hand grabbed by the mutant's own, and for Quicksilver to yell and tap into every bit of energy reserve inside him to unleash one final high-speed vortex, sucking both him and Loki into it. With everything in him, Pietro zoomed right into Wanda' captive form, and the three of them were engulfed in a bright light of high speed and magic energy. A massive shrill whine rang out, catching the attention of all the heroes and villains present, and then a vicious explosion of green and scarlet energy occurred, blinding everyone present with its light. Loki was send flying back dozens of feet, crashing into a nearby boulder formation and leaving a vicious dent.

Wanda was finally free from her bonds and her torture under Loki's magic. No longer bound by anything, she came collapsing down onto the ground, barely conscious, onto a panting Quicksilver.

"Wanda!" he exclaimed as he took her into his arms. "Wanda, are you ok?!"

"Pietro…" Wanda gasped, feeling her energy slowly and gradually returning to her, realizing her powers were still flowing inside her body. She was still one of the world's most dangerous individuals alive. Her brother had saved her. "Yes…I'm-I'm fine, just give me a-"

"YOU FOOLS!" Loki roared as he teleported back to them, his scepter blasting the twins and sending them crashing into Spider Woman and Spider-Man, freeing Amora from them and allowing her to blast Iron Man out of the air for Ymir to whack with his swords. "You think THIS will guarantee your victory against me?! I am a GOD! I cannot be defeated by mere mortals! You cannot stand against me! Her powers are as good as mine! Midgard will be mine to rule!"

"I must stop him," Thor decided, and made to head into the battle, only for Jane to pull him back.

"Thor, you're crazy, you can't go out there!" she implored. "You're as weak and fragile as the rest of us humans! You don't have any powers or weapons or anything! You'll be killed!"

"This world will be killed if no one stops him!" Thor countered, pulling his arm out of her grasp. "Jane, I need to reason with him, I know that the brother I grew up with is still in there. I have to try and reason with him!" And ignoring the rest of Jane's pleas, Thor headed into the battle zone.

"Thor, what are you doing?!" Hawkeye yelled as he and Mockingbird saw Thor run up to them. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

"I can try to reason with Loki!"

"You said he's beyond reason!" Bobbi exclaimed.

"He is my brother, I must try!" Thor countered. The two SHIELD agents would've argued more, but they had to push Thor out of the way before a Jotun collapsed onto the ground after it was slammed down by Wasp's bio stings.

"Thor, what are you doing here!" she exclaimed as she shrank down to her typical Wasp size. "You're going to get yourself-!"

"Yes, I've been warned already!" Thor retorted. "I need to get to Loki! I may be the only one to be able to try and reason with him!"

"I thought you said he was-!"

"I know what I said, but I need to try!" Thor replied angrily. "Can you get me closer?!"

"I'm going to regret this…" Jan muttered as she got bigger to 15ft and picked up Thor. "Hang on!" And with that, Wasp began heading to where Loki was, knocking Frost Giants aside with powerful punches as she got closer and closer. Captain America had managed to break away from Wrecker and was again engaged in fighting the Trickster. Despite all his best efforts to battle Loki and best him, he was only a human with a powerful shield. Loki managed to whack his shield out of his hands, and Cap tried to deliver a right hook, but Loki caught the fist and backhanded Steve into the ground dozens of feet away. Turning and looking up, he saw Wasp heading his way, and with a sneer, he a fired a magic blast at her and hit her right in the shoulder. The impact burned Jan as she let out a painful scream and collapsed onto the ground in agony. Thor managed to jump out of her hands and landed near Loki.

"Loki, you must stop this madness!"

"Thor?!" Loki exclaimed with an amused smirk. "What a delightful surprise! Please, allow me to prepare a proper reception…CEASE, MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS! CEASE YOUR FIGHTING!" At Loki's command, the Jotun, Amora, Executioner, the Destroyer, Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer stopped their fighting, albeit they were confused as to why. The heroes were also surprised as to why their enemies suddenly stopped fighting…until they all saw Thor standing before Loki.

"Thor, what the hell are you doing?!" Stark exclaimed.

"Yer gonna get yerself fu-!" Logan began.

"Yes, I have understood that I may get killed!" Thor yelled back.

"Killed, brother?" Loki sighed in amusement. "Thor, Thor…I would never kill you; I would simply enslave you and force you to witness my rise to power as I conquer the Nine Realms!"

"Loki, this is madness!" Thor replied, raising his arms towards Loki. "This is not what a ruler would do! A ruler would not destroy the kingdom he wants! Our father-!"

"YOUR father," Loki snapped back, his smirk replaced by a look of anger. "You know of my true heritage, so why must you continue to pretend we are brothers?"

"We were raised by the same man. We grew up together, played together and fought together!" Thor continued, walking closer to his adopted brother. "We are loved by the same mother…does none of this mean anything to you? Does my word not mean anything to you?! Odin's words?! He instilled in us the teachings of a ruler! Do you not remember!?"

"I remember a shadow," Loki snapped. "I remember living in shade, the shade of your greatness…the greatness your father never bothered to give to me. Raising us both, making me believe I could be a king as you could. It was all a lie, Thor! You were always the favorite! You were the one who was destined to be king! I…I was not to be anything! Do you have any idea of how devastated I was to learn I was never to be your equal?!"

"Talk about family issues…" Peter muttered to Jess, who sighed and nodded in agreement.

"And so you think because of that, you can simply claim another realm as your own kingdom?" Thor asked. "You think yourself superior to mankind?"

"I do. I should be a king!" Loki replied angrily.

"So you take the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights?"

"The humans slaughter each other in droves…they court chaos. I mean to rule them, and why should I not?"

"You think yourself above them?"

"We are gods…I am!"

"Then a throne would suit you ill, brother. You miss the truth and reason of ruling."

"Says the prince who unleashed war against Jotunheim."

"I was foolish-!"

"And I am a king in the making!" Loki yelled, gripping his scepter. "I am taking my rightful place in the universe! I am Midgard's lord and ruler!"

"No, you are its destroyer!" Thor implored as he reached Loki and grabbed his shoulders. "You cannot be a king, not like this! You need to give up this dream of yours, Loki…you are my brother. I wish you no ill will, but this desire to rule blinds you and consumes you. You must stop surrendering yourself to madness…you need to wake up…return home. I know you can turn this around, brother, if you just allow yourself to. We are still family, and even if you seem to be beyond saving…I will always have that hope that one day, you may be saved. Please Loki…leave Midgard and trouble it no more."

Loki stared at Thor, eyes wide in surprise. "You really believe I can change my ways? That I can simply…return to who I was in our young age and be a true brother and son?"

"I do, brother," Thor said, a smile etching onto his face. "I know that my brother is still inside there, Loki. This madness would not stop with your rule. You may learn to love Midgard, as I do. Please…end your war."

The two simply stood there. The heroes stared on, as did Loki's followers. Was this really happening?

"You risk your life, now that you are mortal," Loki said slowly, "to attempt and save these mortals and their world. To do anything to ensure this world is protected, even be ready to give your life. Why?"

"Because Midgard has become my second home," Thor replied. "I have grown to love it, and I would do anything for this realm. I would gladly give my life to help mankind, and to help Midgard. That is how much I love this realm, and its inhabitants."

Loki remained still and silent. Thor began to smile a bit. He believed he may have finally gotten through to Loki-at least, he did until he yelled in pain as one of Loki's daggers suddenly embedded itself into his chest.

"NO!" Jane yelled in horror.

"THOR!" Cap and Stark yelled in shock.

"Sentiment," Loki smirked with a sinister glint in his eyes. And with that, he backhanded Thor with the godly strength he possessed, sending him flying through the air and through one of the boulder formations that had been thrown in the battle. Thor went right through the rock with a sickening crack, and crashed into the ground dozens of feet away and remained bloody and unmoving. "A useful distraction."

"THOR!" Jane yelled in horror as she ran to where he lay still.

"NOW, MY LOYAL SUBJECTS!" Loki yelled as he began twirling his scepter, devastating lightning bolts of green energy flying out of the jewel at its top. "NOW, WE SHALL HAVE OUR KINGDOM AND OUR VICTORY! TODAY, MIDGARD-TOMORROW, THE NINE REALMS!"

* * *

***New Mexican Desert, American Southwest, same time***

**17:54 MWT May 4, 2012**

* * *

"Agent Quartermain, we're getting spikes in our readings!"

"What?!" the SHIELD agent in charge of this outpost, for three years now, exclaimed in shock and disbelief, rushing over to the screens and monitors. "That-that can't be! All these years, and now-?!"

"The readings are right there, sir!" one of the agents at the monitors interjected, pointing at the spike levels on the screens. "We have no idea what caused it-they just came out of nowhere!"

"Have the radiology teams get out of there," Agent Clay Quartermain ordered, his eyes unable to move away from the screens. How…after three years, this thing was showing signs of…whatever this was. Without a second thought, Quartermain got out of the mobile data center out and ran to the crater in the middle of the SHIELD outpost he was in charge of. The crater was about 10ft deep at its deepest, and had a 15ft radius.

Within the crater, two SHIELD teams of radiologists were scanning the object that had caused the crater. It was a hammer, like a hand-held sledgehammer that construction crews used as opposed to the regular kind. It was dark grey and had a brownish handle with a leather loop at the end. It occasionally flashed an inscription on its side, which was in an old dialect of Norwegian, the Linguistics team had discovered. It had been unmovable for three years-not by hand or by machine, or even by helicopter; hell, Agent Barton had even tried to hook it to a missile once. That wasn't a pleasant experience. But at the moment, the hammer seemed to be activating in some nature, and a whining sound began echoing from it.

"Get out of there now!" Quartermain ordered, to the shock of the teams. "We have no idea what's going to happen!"

"Agent Quartermain, these spikes need to be recorded!" one of the scientists argued. "We can't-!"

"I think I value the lives of my agents more than-!" Quartermain was suddenly interrupted by a crack in the ground where the hammer was embedded in. There came a slight rumbling, but soon it began to get louder, and another crack appeared on the ground around the hammer. "Damn…" Quartermain muttered as the radiologists decided now was indeed a good time to get out. As other agents appeared on the scene, Quartermain activated his comm. "This is Senior Special Agent Quartermain contacting the Helicarrier. Get me Nick Fury, now!"

* * *

***Central Park***

**17:55 EST May 4, 2012**

* * *

"JANE, GET OUT OF HERE!" Captain America roared as he fought to keep the Jotun at bay with Iron Man, Spider Woman, Hawkeye and Black Widow.

"Jane, the Captain is right, you must leave!" Panther urged, trying to pry her away from Thor's body. Quicksilver came up and tried to help, but Jane refused to let go. Wanda was now forced to form chaos fields to protect the four of them from harm.

"No, I won't leave him!" Jane yelled, tears cascading from her eyes. She had run right into the carnage once she saw Thor crash through the boulder, right to where his body was. By the time she had arrived, she was too late-he was still bleeding profoundly, but he was no longer breathing. His eyes were cold and empty orbs of death. Thor was gone. "He can't be dead, he can't be!"

"He is, and he wouldn't want you to die either!" Panther yelled, seeing Jotun coming at their side. He left Jane and began to engage them, keeping them at bay with his vibranium dagger staff. "Pietro and Wanda, get her out of here!"

"Captain Marvel and Hulk are gettin' their asses handed to them!" Wolverine roared as he continued to clash with Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer with Mockingbird, Wasp, Yellowjacket and Spider-Man.

It was true-once Loki began his merciless bombardment of magical blasts with the Enchantress, Carol and Banner had abandoned their fights with Executioner and the Destroyer and immediately bum rushed him, both of them delivering devastating punches and energy blasts and smashes. They were two of the most powerful beings on the planet, but Loki wasn't of this planet; he was a god, and even though he was getting pummeled by their hits, he hit back just as hard. Enchantress added to his devastating attacks, bolstering his magics with her own, further empowering his might. He relentlessly fired magical blasts and deliver hits with his own fists against Carol and Banner. They refused to fall, however, and continued their seemingly lost fight against him.

Jane saw this all. She clung to Thor's body, refusing to listen to Quicksilver or let him drag her off of Thor and to safety. Her friend had died before her eyes, trying to reach out to his brother, and he had failed. She had known him so much these three years, and he was just gone. She refused to move, refused to leave. She would not leave Thor like this…a part of her still screamed that Thor couldn't have been killed. It just wasn't possible…!

'_Whosoever holds this hammer…'_

* * *

***SHIELD Helicarrier UNS Odyssey***

**17:55 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

Central Park was a war zone, even worse off than the rest of Manhattan. All across the Command and Control deck, screens and monitors were filled with satellite feeds of Central Park, schematics of the damage done, and all kinds of other feeds and data. Fury was unsure of what was going on down there, but he did know that if the feeds weren't lying, then the heroes were all of a sudden losing badly. Something had happened that had turned the tide instantly against their favor, and he had no idea what. Maybe it was time to reconsider the ARC Cannon…

"Sir!" Hill yelled as she ran up to his Director's Stand, away from the insane chatter of the agents keeping up with everything that was going on down on Manhattan. "Agent Quartermain is on the line!"

"I don't have time to answer!" Fury snapped. "We're at war and we need to-!"

"Sir, he says the hammer is somehow activating, like it's coming alive! Energy levels are spiking!"

That was enough to grab Fury's attention momentarily. That was indeed a surprise; since being found, the hammer had not been able to be moved an inch, and it had not shown any sign of activity. The only reason SHIELD was still overlooking said hammer was because it simply fell from the skies out of nowhere-alien civilization marking Earth as its own? The sky falling? Who knew? But Fury couldn't afford the distraction of something that was far less important than the war happening in front of him. "Unless the hammer is flying and attacking people left and right, it can wait!"

"Sir, Quartermain says it's urgent," Hill tried to counter, but to no avail.

"I think this is more urgent!" Fury replied. "Our job right now involves stopping a war, not worrying about a hammer!"

* * *

***Central Park***

**17:55 EST May 4, 2012**

* * *

The battle was drowning out. The frantic yells of Captain America and Quicksilver, the roars of the Hulk and the Jotun, the massive explosions and the war cries of the heroes…they became muffled as Jane suddenly began to hear the voice.

'…_if he be worthy…'_

She had never heard that voice before, but for some reason, it sounded so familiar. Why? It didn't matter; what did matter was that it was ringing in her ears, overcoming his senses and drowning out the sounds of the war before her. She simply sat there on her knees, clutching Thor's body through her tears, nothing getting into her ears save for that voice. It sounded so commanding and majestic…and only she could hear it. Why? She didn't know, but she did know that somehow, it was connected to the hammer in New Mexico and, once she heard it speak again…the man in her arms.

'…_shall possess the power of Thor!'_

* * *

***New Mexican Desert***

**17:55 MWT May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Well, what do you want me to do?! He's too focused on the battle over here!"

"Maria, I know he's focused, and it sounds like a horrific battle," Quartermain replied into his comm link in agitation, looking at the hammer in the crater as SHIELD agents and tactical teams stood at the ready. The hammer continued to whine in increasing sound frequency, and a few more cracks were now in the ground. "But this is just as important! We have no idea what this hammer is doing! For all we know, it could bring in a whole new army of these invaders over there in Manhattan! Fury can't just ignore this!"

"I tried to tell him, Clay, but there is-!"

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble and tremble violently, sending shockwaves out for hundreds of feet. The monitors and screens all across the outpost were haywire and static like, and the hammer began to whine even more. Quartermain saw even more cracks across the ground under the hammer as it began shaking. "Oh crap."

"Clay?!" Hill's voice came through the comms. "What's going-?!

**FWASSSHEAAOOOMMMM!**

The hammer then suddenly and violently ripped away from the rock and ground it was stuck in and raced into the skies, flying off in a northeastern direction. All the agents on sight looked on at its rapidly retreating figure in absolute shock. "Hill," Quartermain said into his comm. "I don't care how, but you need to tell Fury that the hammer just flew off." He was interrupted by one of the agents bringing him a satellite feed of the hammer's trajectory, keeping eyes on the hammer, and Quartermain cursed as he realized where it was going. "And let him know it's heading your way, too!"

* * *

***Central Park***

**17:56 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"What must I do to get you to understand!?" Loki yelled as he blasted Hulk with a scepter blast, sending him flying right into the oncoming form of Captain Marvel. "I have ensured my victory! I will slaughter you all as I did my fool of a brother! I will conquer Midgard! YOU WILL ALL FALL BEFORE ME!" With an insane laugh, Loki began firing a vicious and devastating bombardment of magic blasts from his scepter and his hand, raining hell on the heroes as they did their best to keep the Jotun at bay. Loki's invasion looked to be unopposed. Hulk and Captain Marvel had given him the best beatings they could, and Loki was starting to wear down with all the battling he had endured, but he still had his magics and they were helping him continue on. "You have no chance against me! I AM YOUR GOD!" He would've said more, if not for the boulder formation Captain Marvel ripped out of the ground and flung at him, sending him flying into another nearby boulder, followed up by Hulk smashing right into him, delivering vicious haymakers and drawing blood from Loki.

"This…this is it, isn't it?" Spider-Man asked in horror as he took in the chaos before him. "I mean…we-"

"Stow that talk, son!" Cap yelled as he blocked a magic blast. "We can't give up! We will stand until the end!"

"A futile quest, mortal," Amora the Enchantress sneered; she teleported before him and grabbed his throat, using her Asgardian strength to slowly choke him.

"Quicksilver!" Stark yelled as he continued to hold a deflector shield, protecting himself and Wasp from the magic blasts. "Get Foster out of here, now! We'll hold them off as long as we can to cover, but we need you to get back and help us!"

"I…" Jane stuttered, "I…"

"Please, Jane, we need to get you out, now!" Wanda implored as she managed to go over to Jane. "This is a war zone; you won't make it any longer here!"

"But…" Jane began, only to be interrupted by a slowly approaching whining sound. She, Pietro and Wanda looked up to see something….flying towards them at incredible speeds, almost as fast as Pietro himself. They couldn't see what it was, but whatever it was, what mattered at the moment was the fact that it was heading right for…them. Everyone else on the entire battle scene was too busy fighting to notice the object approaching their battlefield.

"What is that?!" Wanda exclaimed.

"I don't know, but it's coming here, and we need to go, now!" Pietro decided as he grabbed Jane, and finally managed to pull her away from Thor's body. "Jane, let's go!"

"No…no!" Jane cried as she was forced to drop the body of her friend. She didn't want to abandon him-she couldn't just leave him there.

"I'm sorry, but we can't do anything for him now!" Wanda yelled as Pietro tried helped her up. She looked up to see the object getting even closer, the whine now getting louder. It looked like a heavy and powerful object-they needed to move, now!

"Looks like we picked the best side, boys," Wrecker laughed as he, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer watched the chaos before them, watching as the united heroes' efforts to fight back grew more and more disorganized and futile. "I say we just stand back and watch the show. We did good, boys-our reward's coming soon!"

"You cannot beat me!" Loki roared triumphantly as he blasted Hulk with a massive scepter and magic blast combo, sending him flying. Captain Marvel managed to land an ax kick on Loki's back, making him yell in pain. He responded by backhanding the heroine and sending her flying. Hulk made to go after Loki again, but his back was immediately sliced and slashed by the Executioner's blade, forcing him back down as the villain then rammed his fist into the wound, and both titans began battling each other again. Carol got up from the crater she had made, only to be grabbed by the head by the Destroyer and viciously and repeatedly rammed face first into the ground and thrown aside, and the Destroyer begins to walk over to her as she struggled to get up.

"How can you hope to defeat me!?" Loki cackled. "HOW CAN YOU HOPE TO STAND AGAINST A GOD!?" Loki took in the whole battlefield. The humans under his command were standing back, but he didn't mind-his victory was already secured. The other mortals fought desperately against the Jotun and their king, Ymir, and Amora continued to back them up with her magic assaults while choking the life out of one of their leaders. His own magic blasts were bolstering their efforts, and the Destroyer and Executioner were dealing with the monster and half breed from the stars. He saw the mortal witch and her brother…and the woman Thor had been with since he came to Midgard under banishment. He'd kill the brother, take the witch's power and give her to his human lackeys, and give other woman to Amora as he knew she believed Thor had chosen her over herself, which was quite…he frowned as he saw the three humans looking upwards. He looked to where they looked…and saw a hammer racing down from the skies, heading straight for them, where Thor's body was also laying. One word came to mind.

Mjolnir.

"It's almost here!" Wanda exclaimed, just as she finally managed to get to her feet, despite the pain she was in.

"Let's go!" Pietro yelled as he took Jane and Wanda and dashed away from the scene, with Jane screaming towards Thor's body as she realized the object was about to him as it finally-!

**FRAKAKALABOOM!**

Suddenly, a celestial lightning bolt descended from the skies, engulfing the object and Thor as the bright light engulfed the area and the sounds of millions of electrical volts worth of power crackling rang through the air. All fighting ceased instantly as heroes and villains alike were immensely surprised by this sudden change of events. Pietro was blown to his feet upon the lightning bolt crashing onto the ground, sending him, Wanda and Jane head first into the ground. They looked up and turned in shock. The Jotun began roaring in anticipation and fear, for they knew what this meant; and the heroes who had been fighting them-Stark, Wasp, Pym, Panther, Logan, Jess, Spidey, Hawkeye, Widow and Bobbi-only looked on in shock. Amora dropped Captain America in complete shock and awe, realizing what was going on. Hulk and Executioner ceased their battle and watched in shock, surprise and wonder. The Destroyer stopped lumbering towards Captain Marvel and turned towards the bolt of lightning, with Carol struggling off the ground and watching the spectacle. Wrecker, Bulldozer, Thunderball and Piledriver stared in shock and fear. Loki…Loki could only stared with his jaw open and eyes bugling. All could see what was in the lightning bolt: Thor, standing with the hammer in his hand, and his arms beginning to be covered in metallic plates and his eyes glowing sky blue, his hair billowing. The lightning bolt suddenly grew bright and fully engulfed him.

"No…no…NO!" Loki roared. "Destroyer!"

At that, the Destroyer began to fire a massive blast of energy-only for the hammer to fly out of the lightning bolt and slam into the Destroyer's face. It stopped flying in midair and flew back to where it had come from, into a hand encased in a thick black leather glove. As it returned, the lightning bolt dispersed, revealing not the Thor they had met only an hour ago, but a new man-one wearing thick chain mail plated armor that showed off ripped and large muscles and a dark blue &amp; black fantasy armor vest covering the chain mail. He had black metallic gauntlets with red lines on his wrists, and he wore dark blue &amp; black fantasy armor pants and black fantasy armor boots with red linings on the back of each boot. He had a billowing cape of dark red, and each of his hands was encased in a thick black leather glove, and one hand held the mighty hammer that surged and crackled with electricity. To top it off, on his head of long blonde hair, he wore a dark grey and winged metallic helmet, and his bearded face held a look of fury, justice and determination.

"Oh…my…god," Jane whispered in awe.

The other heroes suddenly were now able to see a chance to win. They had an answer for Loki: how could they hope to stand against a god?

With a god.

Thor Odinson. Crown Prince of Asgard. Norse God of Thunder.

"Brother. I would have words with thee."

* * *

_**XXXXX**_

_**TO BE CONTINUED…**_


	7. Assemble! Part 7

Chapter 7: Assemble! Part 7

* * *

***Asgard, the Realm Eternal. The Bifrost Bridge***

* * *

"Heimdall requests your presence, my King."

It was those words that were now the reason Odin and his queen and wife, Frigga, joined by Balder, Sif, Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun, were now galloping upon their mighty steeds in full swing, heading directly for the outpost of the All-Seer, the keeper of Bifrost and the eternal and vigilant defender of Asgard, keeper of its first line of defense. As to why the words were spoken, he had no idea; the All-Seer clearly had great news of importance and urgency to share, and for all he knew, another attack was mounting against Asgard itself. For that he had brought along the five greatest warriors Asgard could offer at the moment.

The All-Father, the All-Mother and the other Asgardians arrived at the outpost of the All-Seer, a large golden sphere like construct that swirled every time the Bifrost opened, stationed at the edge of Asgardian space above the cascading waterfalls at the realms border's. Dismounting from their steeds, the group of Asgardians entered the outpost, walking in to see a warrior standing on a platform who was adorned in golden armor and copper battle fatigues. He wore a golden helmet and golden gauntlets on his wrists, and his hands held a massive longsword. What were most distinguishable about him were his eyes-they held an orange glow, and were able to see beyond the usual limitations of eyes. His eye could see worlds away. This was Heimdall, the Guardian of the Bifrost and Odin's chosen to guard Asgard's entrance to the Bridge.

"My Lord," Heimdall greeted. "My Queen. Sister. Balder. Warriors Three."

"Speak, Heimdall," the king of the Norse Pantheon commanded. "What is this urgent news I must know of?"

"It is Midgard, my Lord," Heimdall replied. "It appears…my sight has been deceived."

"Brother…?" Sif began to ask.

"Loki; he has laid siege to one of Midgard's greatest cities. He, Amora the Enchantress and Skurge the Executioner have led an army of Jotun Frost Giants, led by Ymir himself, in an invasion of Midgard. Loki, until now, had successfully cloaked Midgard with his magics, keeping me from seeing his actions. And…he is utilizing the Destroyer, my Lord."

"WHAT?!" the All-Father roared. The Destroyer…the keeper of the Asgardian Weapons &amp; Treasure Vault until Karnilla had bewitched it into a weapon of unstoppable power; Odin had sealed it away on the Isle of Silence…but Loki had found it…and now he, his followers and their enemies were laying waste to Midgard. They would not survive. "The mortals will not survive the battle," Odin decreed. "Lady Sif, amass the armies of Asgard at once, and we shall-!"

"My Lord, that is unnecessary," Heimdall stated.

"Why is that?!" Odin commanded.

"For 15 heroes of Midgard have arisen to do battle against Loki and his forces…and they succeed."

"Mortals? Mere mortals?" Fandral asked. "What can mortals do against our kind?"

"With their abilities, they can rival even the Destroyer," Heimdall stated sagely. "And they are not alone. The Thunderer aids them."

Instantly, the group snapped their heads back to the All-Seer. Had they heard him correctly? Did he truly speak the words that they had almost abandoned hope to hear after three years? "Heimdall," Frigga stuttered as a tear descended from her eye, "do you truly mean…?"

"Aye, my queen," Heimdall confirmed. "The Odinson has proven himself worthy once again."

* * *

***SHIELD Helicarrier UNS Odyssey, 1800ft above Manhattan***

**17:59 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"What the hell just happened?" Fury asked in a completely surprised tone. "What the hell just happened, people?!"

"Readings show a sudden appearance of a being of superhuman levels!" the staff of the command-&amp;-control deck started shouting out. "The being appears to have materialized out of thin air. Feeds are showing that something was racing down from the skies at an angle from the Southwest and when it collided onto the scene, weather charts confirm that a massive lightning bolt descended from the skies.

"Once it dispersed, the individual appeared. There's nothing on any of our databases about him! Scanning now!

"We have trajectory feeds from the object, as well as satellite imaging. Images are loading…"

"Scans are complete, sir! The individual is of Class Omega strength, similar to that of the Hulk!"

"Images are showing that the object is a hammer, sir-and trajectory feeds indicate that it came from the American Southwest!"

"The American Southwest?!" Fury exclaimed, bringing up more feeds onto his screens. "How was this thing in the Southwest and we didn't detect it?!"

"That's what I've been TRYING to tell you, sir," Hill sighed exasperatedly, finally getting Fury's attention. "Quartermain's post in the New Mexican desert, north of Galisteo! He was calling us to tell you that the hammer was activating somehow, and now it flew out away from the post-!"

"And came here," Fury realized as he turned to the window panels, seeing the skies darken with storm clouds and cracks of thunder began to be heard and flashes of lightning visible. "So that hammer…belong to this new superhuman…"

"God."

"What?!" Fury exclaimed as he and Hill turned around. Entering the Command &amp; Control Center was Agent Phil Coulson, looking a bit worse for wear but otherwise ok. "Coulson, what are you talking about?"

"He's not a superhuman, Boss," Coulson said as he approached, giving a nod of recognition to Hill. "He's a god; that week you sent me to the Galisteo outpost, Quartermain asked me to help him decipher some of the runes that were on the ground. We discovered them to be ancient Norse, which I had reported to you. What I didn't mention was the fact that I did some of my own research. I checked out the local library on anything with the Norse Vikings, and I came across the myths of Thor, the Norse God of Thunder; he was armed with a hammer, and with it could control lightning."

"Well, being we're seeing this all happen before our eyes, I think we can say those myths are…true," Commander Hill stated as she came up to Coulson's side.

"Well…that's just great…" Fury sighed. "It's bad enough we have the Olympian Gods running amok here-Ares living in the Bronx, his son Phobos and Hercules travelling the world…now we have to deal with a Norse Pantheon…All hands, keep monitoring the situation. Hill, alert the Council of this…development, and take Coulson with you. I'll order Quartermain to pack it up and to await a transport." With that, Fury turned back to his screens, never noticing the ever so quick peck that Hill gave Coulson nor the clasp she gave his hands nor her whispers that she was happy he was safe and ok.

* * *

***Central Park***

**18:00 EST May 4, 2012 AD**

* * *

"HAVE AT THEE!"

**FRAKAKBOOM!**

With a majestic roar that could silence even the creatures of Atlantis, the skies thundered as majestic bolts of celestial lightning bombarded the battleground. The power behind them was full blown, as was fit for a Norse God. The streaks of lightning swept massive confusion, fear and disorder amongst the Frost Giants, forcing them back from the assembled heroes.

"You do not understand how wonderful it feels to do that again," Thor roared with laughter as he twirled his hammer with uncanny speed that made even Pietro gawk. With a roar, the Asgardian flung his hammer directly at the hordes of Jotun, viciously hitting a good number of them before the hammer suddenly froze in midair and then raced back to Thor's waiting hand. "Or that!"

"Holy…" was all Hawkeye could mutter in awe.

"Sonuva…" Logan whistled.

"Who is that?" Jess exclaimed.

"I have no idea…I left my PokéDex at home," Spider-Man replied.

"Get serious, Spider-Man," Carol said as she descended next to the two arachnids. "What just-? How-?"

"I guess that means what Thor was telling us really was the truth," Captain America said.

"You're not kidding, old man," Stark confirmed. "My armor's scans are going ballistic on his physiology make-up. His powers levels…they're off the charts-he seems to be stronger than even Captain Marvel…maybe even the Hulk!"

"I may not know of that, Iron Man," Thor said as he turned to face the heroes, "but I do know this-I said I would give any aid I could against Loki, and my promise remains unchanged. Now that I am worthy and empowered once more, I am ready for battle. I am ready to battle by your side, my fellow warriors, to ensure that Midgard is protected and secure from the likes of Loki."

"You know, I don't think I'll ever get it. He says Loki's crazy, says he needs to help us stop him, tries to talk him down and then decides to stop him after the guy nearly kills him," Peter quipped.

"Family," Logan shrugs. "It's a complicated thing, Webs."

"If you're willing, Thor," Steve said as he extended his gloved hand, "then we would like nothing more than to have you fight on our side. Together, as allies and protectors of Earth."

"Aye, Captain, as Earth's Mightiest Heroes," Thor grinned. He then turned to see Jane as she, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were getting up, and walked up to them to speak to her. "Jane…I thank you; you have provided much for me in the last three years, and I can never repay you for your kindness. It has been quite an adventure these last three years."

"Yeah, it really has," Jane agreed with a smile, her eyes taking in Thor's new appearance. "So…is this how you usually look?"

"Aye."

"It's a good look," Jane smirked. "If it weren't for you already being taken-"

"GUYS, INCOMING!" Spider-Man yelled out, his Spider-Sense going crazy all of a sudden. Sure enough, a large boulder formation, freshly ripped out of the ground, was hurtling their way as it made to crush them all…except it was easily and pitifully stopped in its tracks by Thor's hand. Three more boulder formations found themselves being hurtled right at them, only for Carol, Banner and Stark to catch them as well.

"Thor!" Loki roared in anger as he approached the front lines, his scepter glowing dangerously as he twirled it. "Once more, you make to ruin the schemes of fate and destiny! Is it not enough you belittle me in our own realm?! Now you must make mockery of me in the realm of mortals?!"

"Heed my words, Loki!" Thor commanded, the skies rumbling with thunder. "I now declare that Midgard is under my protection, now and forever more! I will not stand by and allow you to enslave the world I have come to love as my own home! I will not allow you to place the lives of billions at risk for your own petty games! I tell you now, stop your assault on Midgard, and remove your forces to never bother the mortals again!" At his words, a massive streak of lightning crashed through the skies. "Or you will face the wrath of Mjolnir this day."

"You fool!" Loki replied with a yell. "I am this world's ruler! I shall be king of Midgard, and of the Nine Realms of the Cosmos! Midgard will bow before me, and none can stop me, especially not their so called heroes!"

"But you forget, Loki…" Thor smirked. "I am now one of the heroes of Earth."

"And I guess Goldilocks is officially on our side," Hawkeye smirked.

"HAVE AT THEE!" the Thunder God roared in a battle cry as he jumped directly at the opposition of invading forces, the boulder in his hands sent flying off in another direction as he made for Loki. Loki, meanwhile, let out an evil laugh as he too dashed into the skies, heading right for Thor. Hammer and scepter connected as the two gods landed hits, causing a massive shockwave in the skies.

Both deities came crashing onto the ground, creating a massive crater. Both Thor and Loki, however, barely even registered the impact as both rushed each other. Loki blocked Thor's hammer slam, only to receive a punch to the gut. Thor pressed on with another hammer hit, which got Loki in the face. Loki retaliated by delivering his own hit at Thor's face, and backing away to give himself enough room to twirl his scepter and give his brother a blast, only for Thor to block it with his hammer. Thor then managed to ram the hammer down on the scepter and send it to the ground, and delivered a fist to Loki's face. Loki was then forced on the defensive as Thor delivered blow after blow with his hammer, Loki being forced to block each and every hit with his scepter.

"Ok, everyone!" Iron Man yelled out. "We can still win this! Thor's got Loki busy, so all we got to do is take care of these guys! We can still take them!"

"Iron Man is right!" Captain America declared in triumph, raising his shield into the air. "We make our stand here! We will not surrender! We will win and protect the world. Let's move! CHARGE!"

And with those words of motivation and with newfound strength, resolve and determination, each of the assembled heroes charged, their courage unshaken as they moved as one to confront the rest of the armies of Loki. Claws, arrows, staffs, energy blasts, brute force, webs and combat expertise surged forward, intent on proving just how resilient and unmovable their defense was, and how ferociously the Earth was going to fight to secure its freedom. They were not going to simply let themselves be pushed around. This was their world and their home, and they were going to fight for it.

"Destroy them all!" Amora yelled out as she began firing her magic blasts at the oncoming heroes. Instantly, the Jotun, the Destroyer, Executioner, Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer charged forward, right for the heroes. They had superior numbers, and some would even say they had superior strength on their side. It didn't matter in the slightest.

Hulk instantly went for the Executioner, landing a smashing jump on him despite having the villain's ax getting embedded into his chest. With a roar of anger and unadulterated fury, Hulk ripped it out of his chest and began beating Skurge with its handle, to which the Asgardian could barely defend himself from. Skurge managed to grab the ax and rip it from Hulk's hands, once again slashing away at the titan, beginning once more a vicious battle between the two powerful beings as they created a massive crater and untold damage. Their punches and roars and yells rang out and echoed across all of Central Park as they clashed, delivering haymaker after haymaker and ax hit after ax hit.

Wanda was tired; her strength was sapped from everything that she had just endured under the hands of Loki and the Enchantress, and she was nearly wiped out. She didn't care. She wanted to make them pay for putting her through all of that. She could barely stand, and she was still replenishing her stamina and trying to regulate herself once more, but she wasn't about to just sit by the sidelines while her brother and new allies. Using her limitless ability to bend probability to her will, she made herself stand and with a vengeance, she amassed a large array of chaos hex spheres and sent them flying towards the Enchantress, who went flying to the ground as they exploded upon impact, enticing vicious chaotic side effects. With a snarl, Amora instantly teleported to Wanda's location, but the mutant sorceress was expecting it, and the moment Amora appeared before her, Wand surged chaos fields at her, which Amora barely blocked with her own magics.

Carol slammed herself right into the Destroyer, firing energy blast after energy blast, then punch after punch, but she saw that it wasn't going to be enough. The energy that she had absorbed when the Destroyer had blasted her was almost all gone, leaving her at her base energy &amp; strength levels; not only that, but Loki had apparently wised up to her strategy, because the Destroyer wasn't firing any blasts at her at all. Instead, it only delivered bone crushing hits from its metallic fists. Captain Marvel was one of the most powerful superhumans on the planet, but even she had her own limits, and taking on a being of this much power was one of them. If something didn't happen to help her out soon, then-!

"Ho, Captain Marvel!" Thor yelled out as he sent Loki flying with a hammer hit. Carol looked to him, and Thor wasted no time with words, but instead simply aimed his hammer at her, and from it procured a massive blast of celestial lightening that hit her directly and with a force that she had never felt before. It sent her staggering back, but only for an instant. As her body began adapting and absorbing the energy, the heroine could actually feel that this lightening…it was almost exactly like the energy behind the Destroyer's blasts, but still different…it was godlike, and all-powerful. Adrenaline began pumping in her veins and soon, her body was shaking in the excess energy, and there was only one way to take of it-let it out.

"Thanks, Thor!" she shouted in glee as she surged massively powerful blasts of photon energy from her fists right at the Destroyer, sending the metallic juggernaut flying into the air, at which she raced after it and landed a massively powerful punch on its faceless head. Thor laughed in joy as he returned his attention to Loki, who was now flying at him with his scepter pointed directly at the Thunder God.

Iron Man, Wolverine, Spider-Man and Quicksilver each handled Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer respectively. Iron Man immediately sent a vicious barrage of repulsor blasts right at Wrecker's face, blinding the villain and forcing his incoming crowbar whack to go wild. Stark flew into the air to avoid any more hits from Wrecker, and from the skies he fired his uni-beam, landing a devastating hit on the Wrecker who yelled out fiercely from the pain of the blast. Wolverine continued to slash away at Piledriver, taking no care at all as to how badly he was maiming the villain. Claw slash after claw slash enticed vicious screams from the villain as the mutant properly welcomed the newcomer villain into the world of heroes and villains. Logan did a somersault and flip in the air and managed to again embed his claws into Piledriver's back, making the villain scream in agony once again. He had been stabbed by both Wolverine and Panther in that general area this whole time and it was becoming more and more painful with each time he got hit there. Piledriver ferociously tried to grab at the mutant but to no avail.

Spider-Man, meanwhile, found it quite difficult to tussle with the man calling himself Thunderball, but he was no quitter, not since the age of 15, and he wasn't about to start now. Firing web shot after web shot, and with a near limitless arsenal of quips, jokes and remarks, he managed to get Thunderball angry enough to strike blindly and without any kind of tactics. Peter's webs managed to land on the villain's eyes, further hampering his attempts to land decent hits. Thunderball then angrily swung his ball &amp; chain, but the Webhead's Spider-Sense was easily able to help Peter dodge the attack, and as the hero jumped over the weapon's trajectory, he shot a web line at Thunderball's chest and pulled himself in, landing a powerful kick on the villain's torso and sending him staggering back and making him yell in pain.

Quicksilver, meanwhile, was focusing all his attention of Bulldozer, not allowing the villain to get any chance to retaliate or focus or even get a chance to get a breath. The speedster was tapping deep into his mutant ability of speed, making his body go to speeds that he reserved only in the direst of circumstances…which he figured would be occasions such as the one they were in right now. Absorbing the momentum he was building up and diverting it all to his fists, Pietro enabled himself to deliver vicious and powerful punches all over Bulldozer's body, striking multiple times in the blink of an eye. Bulldozer could not block any of the hits, finding he was unable to keep up with the hero. In a desperate attempt to stop the mutant, Piledriver jumped up and rammed his protected head and his fists right into the ground, creating ripples and an eruption of the ground and dirt and stone. Pietro barely managed to keep his balance as the carnage erupted below his feet.

As for the swarm of Jotun that remained, Captain America and Spider Woman took on Ymir while Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Black Widow, Black Panther, Yellowjacket and Wasp engaged the other Frost Giants. Ymir was furious at the fact that he and his people were being bested by mere puny mortal humans, and he wanted to rectify this problem immediately. He raised his ice scythes to slice Captain America, only to be blasted in the face by one of Spider Woman's venom blasts. Ymir staggered back from the blast, and instantly felt something hard and metallic-Cap's shield-ramming into his leg. More venoms blasts from Jess were fired and Steve flung his shield directly at the Frost Giant's face, landing right in his eye. Ymir roared in pain as he swung his scythes blindly, both heroes barely dodging the strike. Spider Woman then flew up and landed a powerful uppercut on Ymir's chin, and Captain America managed to jump up and ram his shield directly into the creature's face.

Meanwhile, the others were fiercely and relentlessly tackling the other Jotun, refusing to surrender under their superior strength and numbers. Hawkeye had at last managed to run out of arrows…but he still had quite a number of arrow heads of all forms. Using his SHIELD trained body and every form of martial arts and agility he was trained in, he jumped and dodged and ran, throwing arrowheads left and right-explosive, smoke bomb, electrical, impact, sonic, anything. Black Widow continued to leap and jump out of harm's way as she continued to fire her M27's and her Widow stingers at the Jotun, and throwing the occasional grenade that she always kept in her belt for some occasions. Even though she was no superhuman, Natalia was filled with the enhancements of the KGB's Red Room program, and she used her expertise of combat to land blows on what she hoped were pressure points on the Jotun, utilizing uncanny athletic skills as she moved. Mockingbird, unlike Black Widow, had no enhancements in her slender &amp; petite body at all, but she was one of the best athletic and maneuverable agents in all of SHIELD, and she put her skills to use as she deliver blows with her battle staves at places she knew she could reach, mostly the back of the knees of the Jotun. Her small form allowed her to easily maneuver around the carnage of the battle without much worry of being hit.

Black Panther, with all his vibranium daggers finally used up, was now going for a more direct approach; with the final two daggers he had left, he connected and extended them to for a deadly dual bladed staff. With the training of kings and warriors, T'Challa jumped and pounced as he struck with the frenzy of the panthers of Wakanda, delivering vicious blows and strikes against the Jotun Frost Giants, the vibranium blades of his weapon leaving their deadly marks as the Wakandan king hacked and slashed his way through the Jotun. Meanwhile, Yellowjacket and Wasp took a more upfront method still, going supersized to match the Jotun in height and even strength. Left and right, the married couple dealt their punches and their kicks, and also fired their powerful bio-blasts, turned short-ranged as they were in their giant forms, but enhanced in power also. The Jotun fought hard and fiercely against the humans, but their skill and powers managed to go on par exactly with their strength and size, and they found themselves fighting a slowly losing battle.

All the while, Jane Foster watched the titanic and climactic battle before her eyes as she hid amongst the carnage of the trees and stone left in the wake of the rampages and fight. She couldn't believe her eyes. She had always heard that the fights between the superhumans of Earth were feats of wonder, but she had never seen one close up before today. She was captivated by the sights before her, watching as beings that were looked upon as gods and legends and monsters clashed with creatures of myth and legend. Jane couldn't make herself move from her spot. She was too caught up in the spectacle before her, watching the heroes of her world working and battling as one to protect their home and their planet.

No one noticed that there were other people watching the battle as well.

"Do you not see this!?" Thor demanded as he blocked another blow from Loki's scepter. He gestured to the raging war surrounding them, and Loki looked towards them all. "Do you truly think that this madness will stop even if you manage to stop the mortal heroes here?! Their heroes will not simply lie down and allow you to take Midgard! They will never surrender to you, Loki! They will stand, and they will forevermore be assembled to stand against your might!"

"And they will simply fall against my superiority!" Loki retorted as he blasted Thor with his arcane blasts. Thor retaliated by firing a lightning blast. "And I will ensure, BROTHER, that you do not dare to stand in my way as I conquer the realm of Midgard, then Asgard, and then all the Nine Realms of the Cosmos!"

"I SAY THEE NAY!" Thor roared as he rammed his hammer right into Loki's armored chest. "As long as I draw breath and as long as I have a tie to this realm, Midgard shall forever be under my unending protection, Trickster!"

"Then let us correct that!" Loki cackled as he raised his scepter to the skies, bringing forth bolts of green lightning that flashed as they flew off in random directions, hitting anything in their path. Thor, however, was just as quick as the Trickster, and with his hammer brought forth his own lightning and used it to counter and deflect the green lightning blasts. "You amuse me, Thor!" Loki sneered, raising his hands to fire yet more blasts of Asgardian magic. "It seems that your time on Midgard has softened you, indeed!"

"Be silent!" Thor roared as he flew up and descended down towards his evil adopted brother. "Face the wrath of Mjolnir!" With the roars of thunder echoing across the skies, Thor slammed his mighty weapon, Mjolnir, right into Loki's face.

"You're weak, witch," Amora sneered as she continued to do battle with the Scarlet Witch. "You have been drained of your energy to fight, and you will at any moment fall under the strain of exhaustion. It would do you well to surrender now and-!"

"I will not surrender to you!" Wanda yelled as she unleashed a massive surge of arcane hex spheres, blasting the Enchantress and enticing feral roars of pain from the Asgardian. "And you will pay for making me go through all that, you whore!"

"Well, the Scarlet Witch sure seems mad," Jess mentioned as she dodged one of Ymir's scythes and retaliated with a venom blast.

"Well, wouldn't you?!" Cap replied with a smirk as he caught his shield and began racing up towards the Frost Giant he was fighting. "Her powers are helping us, though; she's holding the Enchantress at bay and allowing us to focus on bringing these things down!" He then jumped up and rammed his shield into Ymir's face. "And we're doing it, Jess! Soon, these things won't be much of a problem anymore!"

"HA! That is what you think, mortal!" Ymir sneered as he swung his ice blades again. "Even now, more of my brethren are coming this way, ready to smite you all where you stand!"

'Sir,' JARVIS interrupted as Stark fired a few more repulsor rays at the Wrecker. 'I'm detecting three bodies of the invading creatures heading towards Central Park, specifically in this direction. SHIELD, the NYPD and the American military are unable to hold them at bay.'

"Well, that's just great," Iron Man muttered. "Heads up, everyone! More of these things are heading our way!"

"Aw, come on!" Hawkeye yelled.

"Well, it could be worse!" Spider-Man quipped. He managed to get back to back with Quicksilver as the two prepared for the next incoming attacks from Bulldozer and Thunderball.

"Yes, clearly," Pietro fumed, readying himself. "Because that is exactly what we need-for the situation to get worse than it already is! These two buffoons have us at a disadvantage at the moment!"

"And we're gonna lay the hurt on y'oose good!" Bulldozer sneered as he cracked his knuckles, Thunderball swinging his ball &amp; chain. Then, they charged at the heroes.

"Oh, c'mon, Quicksilver," Peter continued as he and the mutant braced themselves. "We're literally fighting an apocalypse here! At least the sky isn't falling down on us in fire, right?!"

At that moment, the skies suddenly darkened swiftly and in just seconds, a massive surge of blue energy descended up the grounds of Central Park, engulfing the space between the two heroes and the two villains, forcing Thunderball &amp; Bulldozer to stop in their tracks. All across the battlefield, everyone stopped to witness this spectacle.

"OH, COME ON, I WAS JUST JOKING!" Spider-Man yelled to the skies.

Then, the surge suddenly disappeared, but not before three cries of the phrase, "HAVE AT THEE, VILLAINS!" was heard.

From the smoke that had resulted from the surge's impact on the ground leapt three figures. One was blonde and sported a fantasy armor and cape of tan and dark green colors, and he held a long and menacing looking sword in his hand, and a look of eagerness and a small level of naiveté on his face, and one couldn't help but see he was rather handsome. The second held a face of grim determination and unshakeable resolve highlighted by his goatee, and one could just make out what appeared to be features resembling Asian. He was covered in dark blue fantasy armor and clothing with a dark fantasy armored vest and boots, and thick fingerless gauntlets on his arms, each hand sporting a sinister looking mace. The third was huge-fat but not too fat-and was covered in brown and silver fantasy armor, and he had long and curly orange hair and facial hair, thick silver gauntlets and a massive battle axe in his hands.

Fandral the Dashing, Hogun the Grim and Volstagg the Voluminous. The Warriors Three of Asgard.

"Fall under the might of Volstagg!" Volstagg roared in fierce battling spirit as he attacked Bulldozer, his godly strength allowing him to easily topple the supervillian. With a swing of his axe, he sent the villain flying.

"Have a care, Volstagg," Fandrall laughed as he and Hogun then engaged Thunderball, jumping at him with blade and mace. "Save some fighting for the rest of us!"

"Um…what just happened?" Peter asked as he and Pietro looked on in shock.

"Anyone else seeing this?!" Mockingbird yelled out.

"Whoa!" Stark exclaimed. "My scannings show that they've got the same biological and physiological make-up as Thor! Whoever they are, they're the same species as him!"

"Are we sure that's a good thing?!" Natalia asked.

"The Warriors Three?!" Loki hissed as he struggled to get back to his feet. "No…then this battle has consumed too much of my focus and shattered the spells that clouded Midgard from Heimdall. That can mean but one thing…any minute now, the hosts of Asgard…Odin himself-!"

"FANDRALL, HOGUN AND VOLSTAGG!" Thor exclaimed with joy as he raced up to the three newcomers and gave them a bear hug. "By Odin's Beard, 'tis good to see you all again!"

"I think it is!" Captain America answered Widow's question.

"And you as well, Thor!" the trio replied in unison. "Heimdall was alerted of what was transpiring here on Midgard, and alerted the All-Father at once! Even now, the hosts of Asgard are assembling to do battle with these creatures of Jotunheim!" Fandral added.

"But it appears there is no need!" Volstagg commented. "The All-Seer spoke truth; these mortal heroes have truly stood against the might of enemies the likes of which Midgard has not seen in millennia!"

"Aye!" Thor declared. "Truly, I am honored to fight alongside these heroes, the mightiest warriors that Midgard offers as her champions! They would make superb warriors if they were of Asgard!"

"I would surely-!" Fandral began.

**BRAKAKABOOOMMMM!**

"NOBODY SENDS ME FLYING!" Bulldozer roared as he charged right into Volstagg, the both of them crashing into the trees. "I'm gonna kill you, ya hear me!? I'LL KILL-!"

"Get back, fool!" Volstagg roared in anger as he swung his ax at his face. "If it is battle with Asgardians you desire, then so be it!"

"Um, Thor?!" Iron Man called out. "Not that I want to break up the family reunion, but we're kind of in the MIDDLE OF A WAR HERE!"

"Aye, Iron Man!" Thor agreed. "And with the aid of the Warriors Three of Asgard, we shall find victory on this day, yet!"

"I think not!" Loki roared as he levitated himself into the air. "Not as long as I am standing will there be victory for you or the mortals this day! Attack, Frost Giants of Jotunheim! Attack, my faithful followers! On this day, we shall know victory and conquest! The Nine Realms shall fall before our power!"

"Thor!" Fandral yelled as he engaged again into battle. "We shall deal with the Jotun! You and the mortal heroes must go and face Loki and his followers!" At that, Volstagg disengaged Bulldozer as he went to join the other two to do so. Bulldozer was about to go after the Asgardian but was stopped by the Executioner crashing into him, courtesy of the Hulk.

"Aye!" Thor agreed. "Onward, heroes of Midgard, for today we shall find victory's sweet taste and vanquish this evil from the realm!"

"You heard him, everyone!" Captain America roared as he charged. "Take them down!"

"We got incoming!" Captain Marvel yelled out as she dodged another of the Destroyer's blasts. "We got more of these things coming this way, and there's probably dozens per group heading here!" The heroes turned to see it was true. From the far sides of Central Park, new hordes of Frost Giants, each armed with whatever ice weapons they had, were heading in their direction, the lust for blood in their eyes and the desire to lay waste to their enemies in their resolve. With massive and echoing roars of ferality and viciousness, they all charged, heading right for the battle field and to bring their aid to their fellow invaders.

"Crap, that's not good!" Hawkeye exclaimed. "We need a plan! Three of Thor's buddies aren't enough to take on all of those things!"

"Though your faith is us could be a bit better, mortal," Fandral exclaimed, "you do speak truth!" He turned to the skies. "Heimdall, where is our reinforcement!?"

At that moment, yet another surge of massive blue energy descended from the heavens and crashed into the ground before the Warriors Three. When it disappeared, the smoke blew away to reveal a warrior dressed in dark purple fantasy armor and a helmet on his head, a dark violet cap billowing on his back. He wielded as longsword in one hand and a shield in the other. He had silvery long hair, a warrior's built, and blue eyes filled with battle spirit.

Balder the Brave, Norse God of Light, stepbrother of Thor and the third greatest warrior of Asgard.

"It has come, Fandral," the Asgardian smirked as he took up a battle stance, joining the Warriors Three.

"Balder!" Thor yelled out as he whirled his hammer and threw it at the ground at Loki's feet. "Tis good to see you once again!"

"Aye, my brother!" Balder replied. "And it is not just I who is arriving with the Warriors as well!"

Yet another surge of blue energy descended onto the grounds of Central Park, but this time, it crashed right amongst the charging Frost Giants, causing immediate chaos and confusion. When the energy surge dissipated, however, that confusion was replaced by roars of disarray and fear. The assembled heroes watched in awe as they saw what the arriving Asgardians were cheering on. It was a woman, with sleek raven locks and clothed in dark red and tan fantasy armor and battle kilt. Each hand held a sinister looking sword, both currently cutting through the flesh of the Frost Giants with ease as she unleashed vicious war cries. Her head was adorned with a helmet with wings, similar to Thor's, and she had thick scarlet gauntlets on her wrists. What caught the most attention were her killer thighs, which seemed to glisten in the sunlight with the lust they enticed.

Lady Sif, the Norse Goddess of War, and the love of Thor.

"Warriors Three and Balder!" Sif roared as she continued to hack her way through the Jotun. "To me as we smite these creatures down! Thor!" she added as she turned to her love. "Loki and his minions are all yours!"

"Aye, War Goddess!" Thor yelled back. "Now, heroes of Midgard! Ere this day, we shall ensure this world lives to see yet another day! Let us avenge the lives lost in the wake of Loki's madness and prove that mankind cannot fall. We strike for New York! For those who have fallen! For the protection of this world and this realm! FOR MIDGARD!"

"He could do really well as a motivational speaker," Spider-Man quipped to Spider Woman, who smirked and nodded.

"TAKE THEM DOWN!" Iron Man and Captain America yelled, mirroring Thor's words, enthusiasm and his fervor. With yells of battle, the assembled heroes of Earth descended upon the four supervillians that Loki had created, the Enchantress and upon Loki himself. With Lady Sif, Balder the Brave and the Warriors Three holding back Ymir and all his Jotun, they had nothing holding them back. Web lines, arrow heads, claws, staffs, repulsors, bullets, stings, fists and a shield rained merciless pain upon Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer. As Quicksilver forced them to separate with his blinding speed and vortexes, Iron Man and Spider Woman fired their blasts from above. As the villains yelled in pain from these hits, they were bombarded with bullets and shield flings and arrowheads. Spider-Man webbed down from above and hit Thunderball's arm with his webbing, and with a mighty swing of his arm, forced the villain's arm to swing madly and fling the ball &amp; chain he was holding right into Piledriver and Bulldozer, distracting Thunderball long enough to allow Wolverine to slice his back up with his claws. Wrecker was, meanwhile, attacked by Mockingbird and Black Panther's dangerous melee weapons skills. All four of the supervillians were, at the same time, continuously blasted by Yellowjacket and Wasp's bio-sting bursts and punched repeatedly when they went giant sized.

Hulk and the Executioner continued to go at it, and even though both titans were extremely powerful and seemed to be quite evenly matched when they first started battling, the Hulk, had a major advantage in his favor that was quickly proving to be the Executioner's downfall. The madder the Hulk got, the stronger he got; and with each passing minute of this dragged out battle against the Executioner, the Hulk was getting madder and madder, and his strength just continued to increase. It didn't matter that he had numerous large and bleeding gashes on his torso, or that Executioner's axe was partially embedded in his back. His healing factor was going on overload, allowing the Hulk to focus solely on smashing his opponent. With his axe gone, Skurge could only go on the defensive as he tried to block all of the Hulk's ferocious hits.

Captain Marvel was having the time of her life. This new energy-celestial lightning-was giving her energy like never before. This was even more powerful than when she was Binary, and Binary had made her a goddess! She couldn't help but laugh and squeal with glee as she fired energy blasts repeated, each more powerful than the ones before them. The Destroyer was an invincible juggernaut that defined logic, but then again, her very existence defied logic as well. With the godlike energy in her, she easily continued to stand against the Destroyer and matched it blow for blow and pound for pound.

Thor, meanwhile, continued fighting on as if the very walls of Asgard were falling around him. But then…this world, this realm of mortals…Midgard was now his second home, his adopted world since Asgard had banished him. He lived to see spectacles in this world that dwarfed even the mightiest and most glorious battles that the hosts of Asgard were victorious in. He had seen the rise and fall of heroes and villains alike, and he had seen the indomitable spirit of Humanity's willpower. He had grown to love mankind, and to love this world, they who had taken him in with open arms. Jane, Darcy and Erik had opened his eyes from the clouded judgment he held on Midgard and mankind. He knew better now, and it was for that reason that he fought on against Loki, attacking with his fists and with Mjolnir, unfaltering and unfazed in his resolve to defend his new home from the evils that Loki had in store for it.

Enchantress and Scarlet Witch continued to engage in their arcane-magics battle, and Amora could see with glee that despite everything she was trying, Wanda was still barely able to stand and fight, let alone stand at all. She cackled as Wanda gave in to the strain somewhat by collapsing onto one knee, groaning as she desperately and adamantly forced herself to continue to unleash her hex energies against the Asgardian villainess. Amora then unleashed a massive surge of her magic, and landed a devastating hit on Wanda, making her collapse under the strain.

"AUURRGHH!"

"WANDA!" Pietro roared as he finished delivering a massive blow to Piledriver.

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, FOCUS ON YOUR BATTLE!" Wanda screamed back, her hands glowing as she forced herself to get back up. And her brother did; she didn't need him worrying about her when he was so much to worry about before him. She looked towards the Enchantress, snarling as she fired a hex blast, "IS THAT ALL YOU GOT!?"

"By the beard of Odin," Sif exclaimed as she slayed more Frost Giants. "These mortals truly can best the creatures of Jotunheim and the lackeys of Loki himself!"

"Aye, Heimdall spoke truth indeed!" Balder agreed as she impaled a Jotun in the heart.

"No, mortal wench," Amora sneered as she then summoned up a massive flow of green magical energy, which soon engulfed her. "I am merely beginning to make this battle Loki's victory! You think you can stand against our numbers and power?! You couldn't be more wrong! ARISE ONCE MORE, FROST GIANTS OF JOTUNHEIM! ARISE, AND SEEK THE GLORIOUS CONQUEST OF MIDGARD UNDER THE HANDS OF LOKI LAUFEYSON, AND WITH IT, THE CONQUEST OF THE NINE REALMS!" As she said these words, numerous bursts of the green energy flew into the skies and burst in explosions and rained down up the island of Manhattan once again, but a good number were focused on Central Park. "Now, mortals," Amora cackled, "fall before the might of the armies of Jotunheim and the power of Loki!"

'Sir, multiple incursions are being detected across Manhattan!' JARVIS warned. 'A good percentage of them are appearing in the vicinity of Central Park, and more of these creatures are spewing out at the moment.'

"Well, that's just great!" Stark snapped angrily as he fired yet another uni-beam at Bulldozer.

"Look yonder, Asgardians!" Lady Sif yelled as more portals appeared, each spewing more and more Frost Giants, fresh from Jotunheim and more than ready for what was promised as glorious battle. "More Jotun appear! Stand strong and stand fast, for we shall fight until our last breath!"

"Ok, this just got way worse!" Mockingbird yelled out.

"Webs, what the hell did you say this time?!" Logan demanded.

"I didn't say anything!"

"Now look for yourself, Thor," Loki sneered as both gods floated in the skies, their weapons ready to fire, watching the fresh source of reinforcements arrive all across Manhattan and swarm the Central Park battlefield. "Your foolish mortal pets are about to be slaughtered before your eyes! Even your precious compatriots will soon see the foolishness of fighting and leave to abandon Midgard! Even you can't save them all from death!"

"If I cannot, then I will be sure to avenge their deaths!" Thor roared as he and Loki exchanged blows from their weapons. "I shall never surrender!"

"You've lost, mortal," Amora sneered as she came to Wanda, her hands glowing and her face sneering over her latest push against Earth's defenses. "The forces of Jotunheim will overrun this island, then the rest of Midgard, and your kind and your heroes will be slaughtered as they rise up against us. The Jotun will destroy this realm, and bring Loki his victory. They-AAHHH!" she screamed as the mutant suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrists, Wanda's own hands glowing a bright scarlet-pinkish color, and Amora was shocked to realize that whatever power this was, it was BURNING her. She struggled with all her might to escape the grip, but couldn't, and she was horrified even more to see Wanda's eyes glowing a bright pink. "What-what is this-?!"

"You just revealed to me how we've been going about this all wrong, Enchantress," Wanda mused, and Amora was filled with fear to see that the mutant was…smiling. "And you just gave me the method to stop your invasion and defeat you once and for all. You keep bringing in these Frost Giants…and I want them out. And I can make anything in this universe happen…if I truly so desire it to be. "Right now, I want your Frost Giants off the Earth." Her eyes' glowing intensified, as did the hex energy engulfing her hands and the Enchantress' arms. "Enchantress…no more Frost Giants."

A bright light procured from the two magic wielders.

The battle surrounding them raged on regardless. Lady Sif, Balder and the Warriors Three against the Jotun. Hulk against the Executioner. Captain Marvel against the Destroyer. Thor against Loki. Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Hawkeye, Wolverine, Black Panther, Quicksilver, Spider Woman, Black Widow, Mockingbird, Yellowjacket and Wasp against Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer.

In the distance, all onboard the SHIELD Helicarrier saw the massive light. On the streets of Manhattan, soldiers, agents and police fought against the Frost Giants.

The light engulfed Central Park, then Manhattan, then the five boroughs, then New York State, North America…and the world…in merely 10 seconds.

The light receded.

And the battlefield was changed dramatically.

The field was void of all Frost Giants, save for those that had already been slain. The heroes of Earth stood shocked and still, staring around them as they wondered what the hell had just happened. Thor and Loki slowly descended to the ground, staring in awe and shock at the fields before them. The Executioner didn't believe what he was seeing. The Destroyer had no response, being it was lifeless and also was currently facedown slammed into the ground by Carol's foot. Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer frantically looked around as they wondered what had happened to the army that they had backing them up. Sif, Balder, Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun simply stood in absolute shock.

And Amora was on her knees, right in front of Wanda, who was on all fours, gasping for breath, quite literally at the point of collapse. Amora stared at the mutant, shock in her eyes…soon replaced by unadulterated anger.

"YOU!"

"Ha…" Wanda smirked. "So fall the tyrants."

"How…how?!" Loki demanded, turning his focus to the Scarlet Witch.

"I used one of my most powerful but most dangerous spells," Wanda replied with pride. "To sum it up, I just banished all your Frost Giants from Earth. As long as I live, they can never set foot upon our planet again."

"Well…this looks kinda bad, Dirk," Piledriver said. "And we was rooting for these guys…"

"Yeah, tell me about it…" Wrecker replied. He was really started to get worried now…especially with all the heroes looking at the four of them like that.

"This…isn't possible!" Loki yelled, only to have the Executioner thrown at him by the Hulk, with the battle ax flying at them and just barely missing them as it landed right next to them.

"Wanda, are you ok?!" Pietro asked worriedly as he, Peter, Logan and Jess came over to her.

"I'm fine, brother," Wand replied with a gentle smile, holding onto him for support. "Just…I don't think exhausted covers it at all."

"She…did that?" Natalia gasped.

"It seems there is much to learn about each other as we continue to battle side by side," Panther mused.

"So, the Trickster stands defeated," Balder said as he and the other Asgardians came over to Thor.

"Not quite yet," Thor mused. "His armies are gone, but I know Loki; he shall fight until defeated by force." He then turned to Sif. "Sif, I-"

**SLAP!**

Everyone present was surprised by the hand the Norse Goddess threw across Thor's face, and none as much as Thor himself. The Thunder God stared at her in shock, his hand on the spot she had hit. "Three years," Sif said angrily. "Three _**(insert ancient Norwegian curse here)**_ years I had to go without you, Thor. Three years where I felt empty without you because you went and did something so foolish even after I told you it was a terrible idea. Three long years that I was without you by my side." Then she did the unexpected and gave him a passionate kiss. "And yet somehow, you made my love for you increase a hundred times over. Oh, how I've missed you, Odinson," she sighed as she embraced him tightly. In just a minute, she had exposed two sides of her that she refused to let anyone see. She really did still love him.

"And I you," Thor said as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Um, Thor," Captain America stated as he and the other heroes approached them both (Captain Marvel had just thrown the Destroyer into the nearby lake). "I know that this is kind of a tender moment for you, but Loki is still…"

"Aye, he speaks truth, my love," Sif agreed. "Go; Balder, the Warriors and I will…tend…to those four and to Amora. Loki is your battle, and the battle of these valiant mortal heroes."

"Very well," Thor nodded. With that, he approached the heroes of Earth. The other Asgardians then turned to the four villains, and approached them with their weapons at the ready. Their looks were ones of death. After everything they had been through, Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer were quick to recognize that the gods now approaching them were definitely NOT on their side.

"WE SURRENDER!" they exclaimed, dropping their weapons. Their reward was a swift knock out, courtesy of Asgardian strength.

"Shame, really," Fandral smirked.

"It would be best for you to stay still, witch," Sif snarled as she pointed her blade at Amora's throat. The Asgardian sorceress merely glared, but complied.

Loki threw the Executioner's dazed form off himself, and moaned in pain. Being hit like that with that kind of force…it hurt, even being a god and an immortal. Shaking his head to focus, his horned helmet fell off. His green armor was tattered from combat. Looking around, he saw his scepter on the ground near him. Trying to get himself up, the Trickster reached for it…only for a web line to beat him to it and snatch it away from his grasp. Loki held his breath; he figured he knew what this was. Slowly, he raised his head as he stood up.

Surrounding him were Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Black Widow, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch leaning on Quicksilver, Wolverine, Spider Woman, Captain Marvel and Spider-Man, who handed the scepter to Thor. Each looked weary from battle, and exhausted. But they still held that fire in their eyes; the fires of determination, resolve and of warrior spirits. They each were ready to act if Loki had another trick up his sleeve.

"You have lost, Loki," Thor stated. "Your armies have been driven away. Your followers are defeated, and the Destroyer has met its match." At that, Carol silently pumped her fist in the air.

"We told you that you wouldn't take Earth," Iron Man said. "And you didn't."

"This is your last chance, Loki," Cap said as he pointed at the Norse God of Mischief. "Surrender."

"Or we can smash you some more," Hulk stated, cracking his massive knuckles.

Loki snarled. "No…I…am LOKI. I shall not fall." His fists began to glow, and the heroes readied to attack. "Do you think I really need an army or followers to ensure my goals? I am a GOD, you worms, and I-!"

**KRAKAKAKAKBBBOOOOOOMMM!**

One final massive surge of blue energy descended upon the ground from the skies, landing directly beside Loki. As the surge took them all by surprise, an echoing neigh of a horse rang out as its silhouette became visible, as did that of its rider as it dismounted it. Soon, the surge of energy disappeared, revealing a winged horse that looked like the definition of majestic. Standing next to it was a man of elderly appearance, but whose body language screamed power, authority and royalty. He had silvery long hair, a silver beard, a golden eye patch on his left right eye, and a long spear in his hand. He wore golden and dark brown fantasy armor, complete with legwear to match, and he had a dark colored cape billowing in the winds behind him. On each of his shoulders, a jet black crow sat perched and awaiting command.

Lord Odin Borson, the King of the Norse Pantheon, Lord and All-Father of Asgard, and Thor's…

"Father?" Thor gasped.

"Aye, my son," Odin replied in a booming voice, fit for a king of gods. "It warms my heart so to see that you have indeed proven yourself once again worthy of being a god, a king, and a warrior. You have made your mother and I proud, and all of Asgard rejoices at your return." He turned to Loki, and his warm expression instantly darkened. "Loki…you, however, have brought naught but dishonor and shame to the house of Odin, and to Asgard. Time and again I have dealt with your actions as mere trickery and mischief; as your methods of ensuring your place in the cycle of Ragnarok that forever draws nearer. This…this is no trickery, nor mischief; this is evil. You seek to destroy the one realm vital in the preservation of Yggdrassil. And all for usurping me, and for the sake of ruling over the conquered with an iron fist? Is this how you repay my raising you, boy?!"

"You deserve a thousand times worse, FATHER!" Loki spat, hatred in his eyes. "Your 'raising' made me believe I could be a king! All that time, however, you were simply building false hope and then destroyed it all the moment it was revealed only Thor would ever be king!"

"I loved you too much to break the truth to you," Odin countered.

"And what good that did! You created the god you see before you!" Loki snarled, but then sneered. "But it matters not, for I know I am destined for glory and triumph. I tell you now that before Ragnarok comes, the house of Odin shall indeed fall and I shall be crowned King of Asgard, and Thor will be at my feet pledging his undying fidelity."

"You shame yourself and all of Asgard," Odin said, thunder booming in the skies. "And if you truly feel no remorse for your actions, then it pains me to say that you are too dangerous to be allowed to roam free after an action such as this! Loki, you are to be banished-exiled! You shall remain in the Room without Doors, for now and evermore! SO DECREES THE LORD OF ASGARD!" And with these words, Odin raised his hand, from which a massive surge of unrivaled energy blasted right at Loki. The God of Mischief screamed in agony as the blast consumed him. The screams soon silenced, and when the blast was done, Loki had disappeared.

"Whoa…" Wasp whistled.

"I'll say it again," Spider-Man began, but Logan interrupted him.

"After seein' that, you sure you wanna say those words, bub?"

"…good point."

"Now," Odin commanded. "We shall take the Executioner and the Enchantress and remove them of their abilities. For their punishment, they shall serve exile on Midgard, unable to return to Asgard or to use the abilities that are an Asgardian's birthright." With a wave of his hand, it was done. "They may remain under your judgment, mortals," he said to the heroes. "They shall not be a problem for you now."

"Uh…thank you?" Stark replied.

"Wait, what about the Destroyer?" Carol asked.

"Hmm…yes, the Destroyer…." Odin mused in thought. "Since Karnilla bewitched it centuries ago, its power was too great and I had kept it in the Isle of Silence, where it would do no harm. Even the Odinforce that I wield cannot completely stop such a powerful weapon. All I can do is return it to the Isle, until the bewitchment is broken." As Odin spoke, his eye glowed, and seconds later, the Destroyer rose from the lake, encased in an aura of glowing golden energy before the energy grew brighter and engulfed the metallic juggernaut. Before their eyes, the Destroyer disappeared, to parts unknown to the human heroes standing there.

"And now…we shall return to Asgard. We have much to celebrate, for the crown prince of Asgard has at last returned!" Odin roared in laughter. Lady Sif, Balder and the Warriors Three approached Odin as they prepared to return to Asgard…when they noticed that Thor had not joined them. "My son?" Odin asked with curiosity, even though he was certain of what troubled the Thunder God.

"Thor?" Balder asked as the Warriors Three exchanged worried glances.

"My love?" Sif asked.

Thor looked towards his father, his beloved and his greatest friends, and then turned to look at the heroes he had fought with so valiantly. He knew where his heart was, and what he wanted to do. "Father…I do not think I will return to Asgard just yet."

"Oh?"

"In my exile on Midgard, I have come to learn to understand humanity, in a way we as Asgardians have never done so in millennia. I have fallen in love with this realm, and all that it offers. I have found friends such as Jane Foster and her comrades, and I have seen the force that drives humanity time and again. I have learned to see Midgard through mortal eyes. I have seen its champions rise time and again to answer the call. They make such a difference….everything here makes a difference. I can provide so much to Midgard…and I choose to act as a champion of Midgard. I have chosen to stand alongside their heroes," Thor said with pride as he gestured to the assembled heroes.

"With mortals?" the Warriors Three exclaimed.

"These mortals have stood against Loki and his followers &amp; armies," Thor said as he approached the heroes. "They have stood against the Destroyer, against the Enchantress, and against the full might of Jotunheim. They are warriors born…and I am honored, heroes of Midgard," he added with sincerity as he smiled at them, placing his fist over his heart, "to have fought alongside you. I am proud to call you my allies. Now and always, my strength and my hammer are pledged to you."

"Thor…" Captain America said as he stepped forward. "I think I speak for us all when I say…that we are proud to have you on our side. You are a great man, and have proven yourself to be honorable, loyal and willing to give your life for a just cause. That makes you an ally of mine in my book."

"He's right," Stark added as he then came forward. "We're glad to have you willing to work with us. Your help is greatly welcomed and appreciated."

"I thank you, Captain and Iron Man," Thor said. He turned to his kinsmen and added, "I will always be loyal to Asgard, and when she calls, the Odinson shall answer. But Midgard has also earned my attention, and my protection. When she calls, I shall answer her as well."

Odin was silent for a moment. Then, he smiled. "You have indeed learned your lesson in your exile, my son. You have learned humbleness and the value of another, yes, but you have also learned the true meaning of battle and kinship. And for that, Thor, you have my blessing."

"Thank you, Father," Thor answered. "I will return to Asgard shortly. I must aid in any way I can for those left in the wake of Loki's attack."

"Do not take long, Thor; there is a feast waiting for you now that you've returned, and it promises to be a glorious one." And a few brotherly embraces, an embrace between father and son, and a passionate kiss later, the massive blue surge returned and consumed the Asgardians, taking them away from the realm of Midgard to the Realm Eternal of Asgard.

"So…that's your dad, huh?" Wasp asked as they all came over to Thor.

"Aye, Wasp," Thor replied with a smile. "Not only my father, but my king and mentor as well. Asgard has never fallen against our enemies as long as he has been king."

"He seems kind of…strict when it comes to parenting," Logan pointed out.

"That's not important," Stark interjected. "Thor, I'm kind of worried that your father left the Enchantress and the Executioner behind…he says they have no powers, yeah, but-…"

"You need not worry, Iron Man," Thor assured. "As long as they are without their godlike abilities, they are no threat to Midgard. I would suggest you keep the Executioner's ax away from him, however, and place it wherever you place this." He held up the scepter in his hand. He then looked towards the unconscious Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball and Bulldozer, and the other heroes followed his gaze. "As for them…I am not too entirely sure…I believe their newfound abilities are a part of them now. It would be unwise to remove them from their persons."

"Great, more prisoners to lock up," Natalia sighed as she holstered her guns.

The heroes chuckled slightly before silence set in. For a few dozen seconds, they stood there, unsure of what to do next. The unconscious forms of the four villains lay on the ground them, and the Enchantress and Executioner were no longer a threat. A web line easily handled them.

"Um…" Spider-Man began to say. "So…now what? Should we just stay here and wait for SHIELD or something, or…?" He never finished as they all heard it. It was slow at first, and low, but the sounds grew louder and louder as the source got closer and closer. The 16 heroes just stood there, watching as it approached them.

People. Lots of people, in the hundreds of hundreds-men, women, children, officers, soldiers, old and young, big and small, smiling and weeping…alive. Cheering. Celebrating their victory, and the heroes that gave it to them.

"YOU DID IT! YOU SAVED US ALL!"

"YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!"

"I KNEW YOU WERE GOOD, SPIDEY!"

"I LOVE YOU, IRON MAN!"

"THREE CHEERS FOR THE SUPERHEROES!"

"THEY SAVED US ALL! HALELLUJAH!"

"THAT GUY WITH THE ARROWS WAS AWESOME!"

"HULK, YOU RULE! YOU REALLY ARE THE STRONGEST!"

"YOU GUYS WERE AMAZING KICKING THEIR ASSES!"

"YOU WERE AWESOME, CAPTAIN MARVEL!"

"CAPTAIN AMERICA! WE LOVE YOU! THANKS FOR SAVING US!"

"X-MEN RULE!"

"Spider-Man," Stark said as his visor retracted, revealing a smile of joy on his face, mirrored by the smiles on the faces on all the other heroes. They were tired, exhausted, drained and their costumes and uniforms were scarred with the times of the battle. But they were joyful. They had won. They had protected humanity. "What makes you want to leave this?"

* * *

_**XXXXX**_

_**TO BE CONCLUDED….**_


	8. Assemble! Part 8

Chapter 8: Assemble! Part 8

* * *

***May 12, 2012 AD***

* * *

"…reports continuing to come in as more armed forces arrive in Manhattan to aid in…"

"People are thankfully getting the medical attention they deserve…"

"…the chaos caused in what has been confirmed by the United Nations' World Security Council as an extraterrestrial invasion…"

"-Millions in damages of property-"

"-coming into the masses to pay respect for those who died in the attack…"

"-Citizens of Manhattan are in their debt-"

"-thanks to the heroic efforts of the 16 superheroes that came together to fight this invasion at its-"

"…people all across Manhattan, the nation, and even the world are giving their thanks in their own special ways, as they helped saved the world-"

"_WE LOVE YOU, IRON MAN!"_

"…_and then he just came outta nowhere and smashed the giants, and he was like 'HULK SMASH-!'"_

"_Watching them battles like that, in Central Park…words can't even begin-!"_

"_-I don't know…I mean, the Hulk is supposed to be a monster, right?"_

"International concern has come up about mutants being involved in the battle-"

"-Congressman Robert Kelly continues to voice his concern about the superhumans suddenly coming together-"

"-still no word from the Vatican amidst the rising scale in Europe in regards of ancient Norse beliefs due to the superhero Thor, who claims to be the Norse God of Thunder, and the Pope has yet to give any statement-…"

"-Spider-Man despite his alleged reputation as a public menace, even after 11 years of service-"

"-the X-Men have yet to come forward with any information in regards to one of their own being a part of this union of heroes and vigilantes-"

"_-called heroes are nothing but a danger to the greatest city on Earth, especially that no good Webhead! I've been saying it for years that Spider-Man has been the cause of the dangers here since he appeared. If it weren't for him, these aliens may never have even-!"_

"_-Council has no statements to make in regards to SHIELD agents being a part this union."_

"-Captain America, and he has been working tirelessly with relief workers in the aftermath of the battle to help-"

"-first time the nation of Wakanda has involved itself directly in affairs outside its borders-"

"-former criminals-"

"-many tough questions are indeed being asked about the union of these heroes, especially if this will be continued. With former criminals, a wanted man by the US military, mutants and vigilantes…"

"…_Captain Marvel saved my boy. I owe her so much, and I just want to say thank you."_

"_I don't care what they say about him-he held up the building all that time to help us all escape. Spider-Man rocks."_

"…_saved us. No professor would ever do that. Yellowjacket and Wasp are our heroes."_

"…_came out and saved us all. Being a victim of bullying as a kid, seeing the Hulk come help us even though we treat him like crap…that's admirable."_

"_Captain America saved my life…wherever he is, and wherever the other heroes are…."_

* * *

***Council Conference Room, SHIELD Helicarrier UNS Odyssey; 2000ft above New York City***

**22:10 EST May 12, 2012 AD**

* * *

"…_I just want to say thank you."_

The final screen turned black, causing the waitress' face to disappear. Nick Fury then looked up at the faces of the Council on the screens. To his left stood Deputy Director Maria Hill, and to his right stood Agents Phil Coulson and Clay Quartermain. They all were waiting for the Council's next words.

"Where are the agents that worked with the other heroes?" the Brazilian Councilwoman asked.

"I'm not keeping tabs on them at the moment," Fury replied. "I think they earned a nice leave of absence after all that."

"And the other superhumans, mutants and vigilantes?" the Japanese Council asked.

"What about them?"

"What are you going to do about the situation, Fury?" the British Councilwoman specified. "What is going to be your response to this union of heroes?"

"Should I need to have a response?"

"What are you suggesting?" Councilman Pierce, from the United States, asked with an arched eyebrow.

"They came together and managed to save the world," Fury replied simply. "That doesn't sound like any reason for me to do something about it. Among those 16 are some of the world's most well-known and easily recognized superheroes-"

"And also mutants, former criminals and one of the most powerful superhumans on the planet," Pierce retorted. "Arguably THE most…and also supposed property of America's military."

"Not to mention another new superhuman who claims to be a god," the Chinese Councilman replied. "That alone is something that needs to merit concern to SHIELD. Director Fury, as the man in charge of Earth's second greatest line of defense, we-"

"Ok, now that's just being mean," Fury interrupted. "Brand barely does anything these days."

"-We feel that this union of supposed heroes could be…worrisome, to say the least."

"Look, Council, I understand where you're all coming from, despite what you may think. I know what the dangers can be-superhumans and the like coming together; it's like the X-Men or Alpha Flight. But there is the factor of the Warriors that also joined with these superhumans."

"It sounds to me as if you're…in agreement of this union of heroes and such," the Saudi Councilman stated, a look of surprise and disbelief on his face.

"Council, we have no idea what's going to come out this," Fury countered. "Yes, these heroes came together to fight off this invasion. That doesn't mean anything at all; this could've been simply a one-time thing. SHIELD prepares for situations like this if they go wrong, but we have no evidence to indicate if this union is the heralding of a union of any kind. Besides, each of these heroes, along with the SHIED agents, already has their own agendas. I don't think they'll be keen on working all together when most of them are too used to being on their own. They don't have any reasons bonding them together, like the X-Men or the Fantastic Four…who still haven't come up back from God knows where," Fury ended in a mutter.

"Regardless, we feel that this is something the world doesn't need right now," the Egyptian Councilman stated. "After Hand's disaster that was the S.T.A.R.S. in the early 1990's, as well as the failure of your own incarnation only a few years ago, I would think that you would understand that."

"Well it's not like we can stop them if they decide to," Fury replied. "I have other matters to attend to right now, Council. We'll be speaking again soon, I'm sure." And with that, he cut the feed and proceeded to walk out of the room, his three most trusted aids following him. Within a few minutes, they had arrived at the command &amp; control center, were the bustle of the various agents and technicians that worked to keep the Helicarrier afloat continued to ring out. Fury ignored them as he slowed his pace, walking towards the massive glass window.

"So, what DO we do now, Fury?" Quartermain spoke up, the curiosity getting the better of him.

"We wait and see what happens next, Quartermain," Fury replied, not turning to face them.

"You don't think this was a one-time thing for them, do you?" Hill asked curiously.

"I don't," Fury replied.

"You think they might actually…try to be a team?"

"No…most of them don't have the experience of working with a team or at least a partner," the Director countered. "They each have their own turf, their own agendas, their own priorities…a team isn't going to happen; not with that much diversity among 16 of them."

"So things will just…go back to the way they were?" Hill pressed on.

"Mostly," Fury replied, still not turning to face them. "But there's been a tip in the balance of power now; we know now that there are even more hostile forces up there in the stars, and with those four goons with new powers, on Earth, too…stuff that Brand and SWORD won't be able to handle, nor will we…and definitely not one or two or even five heroes together; this invasion…it's set up a vacuum that'll need to be filled every once in a while. A new age is starting to come down upon us, I think…one where we'll be facing threats like this more and more."

Hill, Quartermain and Coulson were silent for a moment, but Quartermain spoke up again. "Those 16…they're the only ones who stood a chance, and they won. They left a void…an example, and one that won't be easily filled. They had the raw power and skill to fight this off."

"Exactly," Fury replied.

"But we know that they each have their own agenda and responsibilities to take to," Hill countered. "They each have their own separate lives and go their own separate ways. If some other situation like this comes up again…what happens then?

There were a few seconds of silence, and the three of them didn't think that Fury had an answer, until he said three simple words. "They'll unite again."

This surprised them. "You sound so sure," Quartermain replied.

"I am."

"Why?" Coulson asked, finally making his voice known.

Fury at last turned to them, looking directly at them, a small smile on his lips. "Because we'll need them to."

* * *

***Stark Tower***

**22:16 EST May 12, 2012**

* * *

"So, even after all that has happened…the main thing you're focusing on right now is your newest suit?"

"Umm…pretty much, yeah," Stark smirked at the super-soldier, throwing him a white wine bottle, which Steve managed to catch perfectly. "Saved that for a special occasion, so you better appreciate it."

"You know that the serum keeps me from getting drunk, right?" Cap asked with a smirk.

"A fact that I envy oh so much," the multi-billionaire answered.

"And now you've probably given him the idea to try and replicate the Super-Soldier serum just for that reason alone," Pepper laughed as she entered the room.

"You don't know me at all," Stark pouted as he was greeted by his secretary/lover with a kiss. "And for your information, old man," he added as he turned to the jumbo flat screen in the room, "Stark Industries is leading the effort in rebuilding Manhattan, and providing $20 billion and counting."

"And by Stark Industries, you mean Pepper," Steve replied with a smirk.

"Of course," Stark answered.

"And with all this hard work, I'll be too busy to be at home at night, to sleep in the same bed as you…all that paper work that my mean boss dumbed onto my lap," Pepper said in her most teasing voice as she softly and seductively sat herself upon Tony's lap.

"…wait, what?"

"Busted," Cap smirked.

Before Tony could think of a comeback, the voice on the screen caught his attention. "…with so many of Manhattan's citizens continuing to celebrate their salvation at the hands of many superheroes, including the likes of Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Yellowjacket and Wasp-"

"These guys sure can't get enough of us, Steve," Stark mused as he wrapped an arm around Pepper's body, to which she responded in kind by snuggling into his body. "We're the newest talk of the town, it seems."

"I know…" Steve sighed. "But it's become a hassle. Fury has ordered Drew, Barton, Romanova, Morse and I to avoid any and all interviews with the press. But the press just doesn't want to leave us alone; they're trying to eat us up, get exclusives, trying to bring us into the limelight…"

"You're the world's first ever superhero. You should be used to all this attention from when you debuted as Captain America."

"We never got this much attention before we stopped the invasion."

"Well, heroes never gave a response like how we gave in the invasion. I mean, come on, 16 of us worked together to stop Loki and those Frost Giants. The closest thing like that to ever happen was the X-Men coming together. This is different-a bunch of us who are completely different, come from different backgrounds and have no connection whatsoever besides a few of us knowing each other and our roles as heroes, brought together under a single cause…that's not something to just ignore, Steve."

"We've done team-ups, the two of us, and a few other heroes as well," Steve countered.

"Not on a scale like this," Stark countered as well.

"Well, regardless, I can understand that the public, and pretty much the entire world, is thankful that we stepped forward and stood up for our world, but swarming us like this, and obsessing like this so much?" Steve sighed. "I'm contemplating moving from my place in Brooklyn…maybe DC would be nice…"

"Yes, Captain America living in DC, a hero who saved New York right in the middle of the nation's political center and where reporters crawl everywhere," Stark smirked. "That wouldn't bring any media attention at all."

"And how are you handling the attention?" Cap retorted with a role of his eyes and a smirk.

"The same way I always handle it-throw Pepper or Happy in the line of fire," the billionaire said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Why do I need to deal with those vultures?"

"Unfortunately, some of us aren't as blessed as you are to have someone to throw at the press," Pepper sighed as she playfully slapped Stark's arm.

"Well, at least they're talking nice about us," Stark replied. "Jameson and the Daily Bugle have been throwing even more crap at Spider-Man since the invasion; they make it seem like it was somehow his fault. And the Hulk…I can imagine how this is going for him. Where is he, anyways?"

"SHIELD's keeping Ross and the US military off his back," Steve replied. "He's staying with Betty Ross here in Manhattan, but I don't know where. He seems to be taking this all well. In fact, he's surprised by how much people love the Hulk for working with us and helping to save New York."

"He always said that the Hulk could be a force of good," Pepper offered.

"…in their debt. And out top stories continue to revolve around the actions of the 16 superhumans and mutants that took up arms and their costumes, risking their lives to protect Manhattan…" the screen continued.

"Aaaand they're still going on about it," Tony sighed with a smirk.

"Well, at least the regular villains and scum are lying low for now," Steve replied.

"There's a certain Webhead out there that'd disagree with you," Tony retorted. Before the two friends could continue their friendly bickering and banter…

"-and we realize just how bad we would've been screwed if these heroes didn't come together," a reporter was saying on the screen. "After all this, we can't help but ask ourselves as we wonder…what happens if something of this scale happens again?"

At that, Steve and Tony were frozen in their seats. Their eyes widened as they soaked in what that reporter had just said. They replayed those words in their minds and wondered…what IF something like this happened again in the future? How would humanity react, or be prepared for it? The two heroes pondered that for a few moments; it was very true, in their minds, that if the 16 of them hadn't come together as they did and worked as one to stop Loki and his armies, then only God knew what could've happened to Manhattan, and the world. It was only because of them that humanity had a chance. They stood their ground and refused to fall, even against such odds. It was unnerving, and a bit terrifying, but then again…that was the life of a hero, never knowing if you were going to come back that night, but going out there each day regardless for the greater good.

And that was what they had done, but on so much larger of a scale. With their actions that day, something new had been born, a force powerful enough to stand against that big of an onslaught. But just as quickly as it had been born…it had disappeared. The threat had been dealt with, and as the effort to rebuild began, the 16 of them had gone their separate ways. But this reporter's words had sparked some thought into both the minds of Steven Rogers and Tony Stark. If something like this was to happen again, what then?

"She's right," Steve said, a pensive look on his face. "What do we do if something like this happens again?"

"Not only that…" Stark added. "It's not just things like that…what happens from here on out, with the villains of the world? Seeing this, they may get ballsier and bolder. Especially with that new guy, Thor, and the Hulk's enemies trying to bring him down, or Ross trying to ruin his name…And that new group of villains, that Wrecker and his pals…who knows how long SHIELD can hold those guys."

"And any other villains that come up, ones like them…"

"Or villains that are already around who may decide to step it up a notch…Magneto, Doom, Mandarin, Goblin, Strucker, MODOK…"

Pepper looked back and forth between Tony and Steve, wondering just what was going through their minds. They both held pensive thoughts, what she could expect from Captain America, but from Iron Man, her boss and lover, seeing him this deep in thought was a rare moment if it didn't involve his company, armor or him being in a dangerous life-threatening situation. It was weird for her to see him like this, but it also showed her again that Tony Stark was capable of being a human being when he needed to be.

Just then, Steve and Tony looked up at each other, smiled, and said in unison, "I think I have an idea…"

* * *

***Manhattan, New York***

**10:02 EST May 14, 2012**

* * *

"Tony Stark himself asked you to come?"

"That's what I said," Bruce said with a small smirk as he got his satchel and jacket. "I was shocked, believe me. He wants me to go over to Stark Tower today-said he had a proposal for me."

"You mean, like a job?" Betty asked with curiosity. "Tony Stark…Iron Man…is offering you a job?"

"I don't know what it is," Bruce replied. "I just know what he told me-he wants me to consider this proposal, and he really hopes I say yes. He says it'll be good for me-"

"Well, I guess you should consider it," Betty began.

"-And curiously, he said it'd also be good for the other guy."

That caused Betty to stop for a second. "Wait…the other-? Hold on, Bruce, Stark said that it'd be good for both you and the Hulk? Ok, that kind of worries me…how do you know that he is trying something funny here?"

"I highly doubt Tony Stark is going to try anything like that," Bruce said as he and Betty went out the door. They were greeted by the SHIELD agents stationed to protect Bruce from anything Ross might try. "I'm ready to go, Agent."

"Very well, Mr. Banner," one of the agents replied as they began to escort Bruce to a waiting car, which would be taking him to Stark Tower. "Is Ms. Ross coming along as well?"

"No, I'm staying," Betty replied. Turning to Bruce, she sighed and simply said, "Just be careful; I already almost lost you, and I don't want to lose you again."

XXX

Meanwhile, approaching Stark Tower, Natalia Romanova was driving a SHIELD-owned car, her mind racing with the thoughts on why she was heading to Stark Tower in the first place. Captain America had called her, asking her to show up, with the reason that Stark had something to propose to her. Natalia was curious as to what this was. She remembered when Fury had sent her on that undercover recon mission a few years back to determine Stark's mental state. She found his a narcissistic bastard, but a man who did have a heart dedicating to helping others, though then it had mostly been out of self-preservation due to his weapons being sold on the black market. He'd changed for better the last few years.

Natalia wondered just what Stark wanted to propose to her. Why was she even going anyways? Whatever it was, she'd probably just refuse it anyways; she was a SHIELD agent after all, and one of Fury's Secret Warriors. The world's most covert black-ops team of superhumans and humans defending the world, where a dull moment didn't exist. She had too much responsibility to accept whatever this offer would be. So, why was she going to what it was? Probably because Rogers asked her to; the super soldier was her closest friend after Hawkeye, after all. She owed him that much, after all he did for her.

XXX

"So, what did Cap say, exactly?" Bobbi asked as they zoomed above the streets of Manhattan, her clutching tightly onto his back.

"Just to get to Stark Tower today, ASAP," Clint replied, guiding his Sky-Cycle through the traffic. "He didn't specify why, exactly, just that we get our asses there today. What he did say was that there was something Stark wanted to propose to us."

"Propose to us?" the slender SHIELD agent asked with curiosity. "Hmmm…wonder what it is? Hey-! Maybe he'll offer to pay for that two year anniversary cruise that we…never…had." Bobbi hardened her tone when she said that last bit, ensuring that her lover knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Ahhh…" Clint chuckled nervously as he heard his lover's words. "Yeah, I'm still working on that, Bobbi don't worry about it!"

"It's almost our three year anniversary," the blonde woman deadpanned.

"…I know…" Clint sighed.

The two were silent for a moment, until Bobbi asked, "Did we really have to wear our uniforms?"

"That's what the old man asked."

XXX

"No, I don' know how long I'll be here, Slim."

"_Well, can you at least tell me why you're still in New York?"_

"I couldn' just leave after all this; people needed help, ya know."

"_And you're still there because…?"_

"You ask a lot of questions…Steve wants me to head over to Stark Tower, says he has an offer for me."

"_Captain America has an offer for you?"_

"Yep."

"_Aren't you a bit too…busy, being a teacher, an X-Men, the leader of X-Force and doing your own thing to accept whatever Captain America is offering you?"_

"Multitaskin', Slim; one of my hidden mutant abilities. Now is there a reason you called?"

"_Well, the Professor has a meeting with another kid in Scotland who just developed her mutant abilities…Sinclair, I think. Anyways, a few of us are going with him, and the Professor wanted me to ask you to meet us there, but since you're busy…"_

"Tell Chuck I'll meet you all there as soon as I can. Gotta go, Slim, there's a cop givin' me the stink eye." With that, Logan hung up the phone, picked up speed and continued to race his bike across the streets of Manhattan, heading for Stark Tower.

XXX

"And neither Iron Man nor Captain America revealed the nature of this…offer?"

"Sorry, Thor, they just wanted me to tell you that it was important and that they wanted you to show up at Stark Tower to hear them out," Jane replied. Currently, she, Erik and Darcy were in their Galisteo lab in New Mexico, and Thor had just arrived from Asgard. Iron Man and Captain America had come to her last night, asking her if she could contact Thor and ask him to come to Stark Tower in Manhattan for an offer that they had for the Norse Thunder God. Jane had simply gone outside the next morning, yelled to the skies at Heimdall to have Thor come to Earth, and presto.

"Hmmm…" the Asgardian mused as he scratched his beard in thought. "I am intrigued…I guess I should go to Manhattan and see what the Captain and Iron Man have to offer me. It must indeed be important if they asked you to call me while I was in Asgard. It would be good, also, to see how Manhattan is faring, instead of just hearing what Heimdall says of it."

"And while you're there, maybe you can get me their autographs?" Darcy asked with her pleading grin. "Please?"

"I will try, Darcy," Thor smiled. He then looked down at the empty box of Pop tarts in his hand…his sixth one. "Any more Pop Tarts, by any chance?"

"Stark better hope he has some," Erik smirked as he got out another box…their last one.

XXX

They had studied hard for his test today, even before the invasion. They had put so much work into it. This was to be his hardest test yet, and he had drilled them to do well. They had barely managed to convince him to have the test today, despite Columbia still undergoing repairs from the invasion. So, he had relented and agreed.

They were mad.

The sign on the door read, "Dr. Henry Pym's lecture and test canceled."

"They're going to kill me," Yellowjacket muttered as he and Wasp flew towards Stark Tower.

"Yes, yes they will," Jan giggled.

"Damn it, Stark…of all the days to ask me to come to your tower…"

XXX

"The car is ready, sire," the aide alerted.

"Thank you, child," T'Challa replied with a bow. He then left the embassy and walked towards the car that would take him to Stark Tower.

"My King," his Royal Advisor/Shaman began as he joined the monarch. "Is it wise to attend this meeting in the attire of the Black Panther?"

"Captain America asked that I arrive in the attire of the Panther," the Wakandan monarch replied. "It intrigues me why he would want me to, I admit, but I trust the Captain very much. My grandfather fought alongside him in the Second World War, after all. And besides, he advised that this offer is for the Black Panther of Wakanda."

"And what of Tony Stark? Perhaps he may try to gain access to the vibranium again-"

"Stark has given his word that he has no such intent for this meeting," T'Challa interjected. "I assure you, old friend, there is nothing to worry about." With that, the Black Panther of Wakanda entered the royal car with his four guards and was on his way to Stark Tower.

XXX

"So, what do you think this offer is, Carol?"

"I don't know," the blonde replied. Currently, both Spider Woman and Captain Marvel were flying above the streets of Manhattan at a leisurely pace, en route to Stark Tower. Jess had been staying with Carol since the end of the invasion, something the blonde had welcomed as it gave them a chance to catch up on the last few months, what with Jess being busy with SHIELD duties. With Nick Fury giving the Warriors who had participated in the fighting off of the invasion as much time off as needed, Jess enjoyed the free time with her best friend. Of course, the two heroines had still gone out and helped with rebuilding in any way they could. Just yesterday, though, Captain America had called up Jess via their comms and asked her-and Carol, when she said she was staying with her-to come to Stark Tower today, as he and Stark had an offer for the both of them.

"Must be something big, I guess," the British heroine said as the two continued to fly. "And it must be something secret if Cap is keeping it under the radar from Fury."

"What makes you think it's under the radar?" Carol asked.

"Fury wasn't the one who called us; it was Steve-and Stark, for that matter. It has to be something that they don't want Fury to know…at least not yet."

"Hmm…makes sense, I guess."

"I can't wait to see what it is."

"And then what, Jess?" Carol asked. "You're a SHIELD agent and a Secret Warrior. You really think you'll have time for whatever it is they're offering?"

"I'll make time," Jess grinned. "What about you? It's not like you're on a team anymore, and you have a lot of free time on your hands, being an author and all."

"Hey, I'll have you know I have a very busy life, social and otherwise."

"Yes, no boyfriend, living with a cat, no boyfriend, spending your day working out and being Captain Marvel and reading, no boyfriend, the only one you socialize in your building with the most (if at all) being a little girl, no boyfriend, and keeping your feelings inside…oh and no boyfriend; yes, quite the exciting life you lead."

"Kit is a nice kid."

"Your social life still sucks."

"…Whatever."

"Get a boyfriend."

"Shut up."

XXX

"Stark Tower."

Pietro and Wanda stood before the massive skyscraper. They were wearing regular civilian clothes to fit in with the mass of people on the sidewalk with them. Captain America and Iron Man had asked them to come in their costumes, but Wanda would just make them appear with her hexes once they got inside.

"Well, this is it," Wanda sighed as she turned to her brother. "What do you think they want to propose to us?"

"Well, being that the Captain works for SHIELD, but Stark doesn't and has almost no predictable agenda…I can't say I can guess. I guess we will just have to find out. Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess," she sighed. With that, the twins entered the Tower, and were promptly greeted by a man named Happy Hogan, who guided them to an elevator that would take them to the highest floor of Stark Tower. If they had gone in only a few seconds later, they MAY have seen the 15 news vans arriving in front of Stark Tower, or perhaps the mass number of pedestrians checking their phones as they got text messages from friends and family alike, alerting them of a news report about Tony Stark having a kind of press thing later on at his Tower's front steps.

* * *

***Stark Tower***

**10:22 EST May 14, 2012**

* * *

"Ok, can I say that this is ridiculous?" Hawkeye complained again.

"I must admit, Agent Barton speaks truth," T'Challa added. "It has been twenty minutes, and he still has not arrived."

"He'll be here," Logan answered, putting out his cigar. "Trust me, he'll be here."

It had come as a great shock when the 13 heroes arrived at Stark Tower to see that each of the other heroes they had fought with in the invasion were also there, and for the same reason. Steve and Tony were still pretty vague as to why they had all been called here to Stark Tower. At the moment, they were all in the massive lounge room with the side bar on the uppermost floor of Stark Tower, adjacent from his armor lab. They were anxious to know the reasons why they had been called here, but they still had to wait-Stark and Cap said that one more person had yet to arrive, and they would start as soon as he showed up. That was twenty minutes ago, and a few of them were getting impatient.

"And we can't just start without him?" Natalia asked.

"No, Nat, we all need to be here for this," Steve answered.

"He must have a good reason for not arriving on time," Thor interjected. "He is a hero of Midgard, after all, and each hero has their responsibility. And it has only been twenty minutes."

"You've lived for at least a few hundred thousand years," Pietro huffed. "Twenty minutes is nothing to you. But for me…this is agonizingly painful, waiting."

"Cap, maybe we should just start without him," Tony suggested.

"What part of 'he'll be here' didn't you get, Stark?" Logan frowned.

"I agree with Logan, we should wait for him," Wanda offered.

"Why bother? He didn't care enough to be punctual, obviously," Carol interjected a frown on her face, as she stood next to Spider Woman. "If he's not here on time, he's not coming. I say we start without him."

"And I say we wait for him-he'll be here," Logan repeated, this time getting off the wall he was leaning on.

"Look, Logan," Carol countered, getting off the wall she was leaning on and crossing her arms. "I respect that you and him are good friends, but that doesn't alter the fact that he isn't here and that there is something called punctuality that people should respect. If he can't bother to show up on time, why should bother to wait for him?"

"What are we talking about?"

"OH MY GOD!" the blonde exclaimed at the voice that came out of nowhere. All 15 of the present heroes looked up to see Spider-Man sitting on the wall as if he were sitting on a chair. What they noticed right away was that instead of his usual red and blue costume, the vigilante was wearing an all –black costume with a large white spider insignia on his chest, all from a spandex-like material that clung tightly to his body and emphasized, as the females present noticed rather quickly, a rather muscular and well-built body.

"About time, sheesh!" Hawkeye exclaimed with a scowl and a huff as Peter brought himself a bit lower. "What the heck took you so damn long!?"

"Yeah…sorry about that," the vigilante replied sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "There were a few…disturbances."

"Meaning…?" Tony asked.

"About five muggings, one attempted gangbang, a failed murder, and a few thugs trying to hijack an armored car."

"…All that in 20 minutes?" Wanda asked with wide eyes.

"Actually 30; the first 10 were to stop the hijacking," Peter replied. "That was kinda-wait…why are you all here? Did Stark and Cap want to offer you all…whatever they're offering, too?"

"Aye, Spider-Man, they did," Thor replied with a smile. "And please, do not apologize for performing your duty to this city you call home. 'Tis admirable what you do for New York City."

"Yeah, Webs, don' sweat it," Logan smirked. "Ya showed up, and that's what matters."

"Exactly, so good to see you again, counterpart," Jess grinned as she playfully punched his leg, being that his position on the wall leveled his legs with her head. "And I got to say, that costume looks REALLY good on you," she added with a teasing voice and hidden wink.

"Ahh…uh…ahh..t-thanks," Spidey replied with a surprised stammer, his mask hiding his blush. "The, uh, the other one was still kind, uh, of messed up from the, uh, invasion."

"If you're both done flirting…" Tony interrupted with a role of his eyes.

"Oh, like YOU'RE one to talk," everyone else minus Thor replied in unison, surprising each other.

"Hurtful…" Tony muttered.

"Anyways…" Steve said, instantly taking command of the situation with his authoritative voice, gaining the attention of them all, even of Thor. "Now, I'm pretty sure you're all wondering exactly why we called you all here today." The others nodded and murmured their agreements. "Well, it relates to the events of a few days ago: the invasion and our coming together to battle and defeat Loki and his armies and followers."

"T'was truly a mighty battle and I would gladly ally myself with you all once more to do battle with my brother and his allies, or against any and all enemies again if the opportunity presented itself," Thor said with complete seriousness.

"Well, I'm glad you think that way, Thor," Stark replied with a smile on his face. "Because the offer Cap and I have for you all involves something pretty much along those lines."

"What, taking on the crazy madman and his army of Frosty the Snowman wannabes?" Spider-Man asked, gaining a slightly angered look from the Asgardian Thunder God.

"No, Spider-Man…hopefully not any time soon; no, what I mean is, working together against the threats that the world sees on a day to day basis."

"You mean…what we do on a daily basis?" Bobbi asked in a confused and curious manner.

"Well, yes and no," Steve replied. "What we were thinking of is something more along the lines of a group, like a team.

"What do you mean, Captain?" T'Challa asked curiously.

"Well, think of it like this, Your Majesty," Stark answered. "We all saw the kind of power Loki and his armies had during the invasion. It took all of us together to fight it off and stop them. Yeah, it took us a while…and I mean a LONG while, to actually do anything to Loki, but that was because we weren't used to working together on that big of a scale."

"Hawkeye, Spider Woman, Mockingbird, Widow and I are used to working on a team as agents of SHIELD," Cap added, "but our team isn't as big as the team-up we did, nor does it have that kind of raw and heavy firepower. Logan is used to working on a team as an X-Men, as are Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver with their time as Brotherhood members, but not with a team as diverse and unfamiliar to them as our team-up. The Pyms work as a duo, but haven't worked with the numbers we did. I could go on and on, but what I'm getting at is this-when the 16 of us were working as one unit against Loki, we had a serious amount of firepower and skill with us, and that was something we put to good use when we fought Loki. Combined, we all-with our powers, training, skill and experience-we all functioned as a powerful unit and together, we took on a force that we all couldn't face alone, and we managed to win."

"Um…technically, Thor's dad was the one who beat Loki," Hawkeye interrupted.

"Babe, shut up," Bobbi retorted.

"Anyways, what Cap here is trying to say," Stark said, "is that we all did something amazing that day, when we came together and worked as a team. And it was something that the world isn't going to be forgetting anytime soon. You've seen the news-"

"Yeah, don't remind me," Peter said with a slightly annoyed voice.

"-and they are still going strong about what we did!"

"Yeah, that kind of happens when heroes save the world from certain doom, Stark," Carol deadpanned.

"Actually, he does kind of have a point," Jan interjected. "The way the public have responded to our saving the world this time…I've never seen them react this way to the X-Men (_Logan deadpanned_)…ok, bad example-the Fantastic Four, even when they stopped Galactus from eating the planet. This response is very different."

"Because of so many heroes who have seemingly no connection to each other coming together for a common cause," Panther said, nodding his head in agreement.

"Exactly," Stark replied. "Now, back to our point-together we did what one of us alone couldn't do, and when Thor arrived, it made us even stronger, and we were able to win. All of us, together."

"And that brings us to the question we want to ask you all," Steve said. "If something like this was to happen again, what then?"

At that, the other heroes had no response…save for one.

"We rush into battle head on, without faltering," Thor answered with pride, his fist clenched. "As is our duty."

"And there you go…'WE.' Everyone, the world is filling up with threats that are slowly becoming too much for SHIELD to handle on its own," Steve said. "And there are threats out there, we now know, that can prove to be too much for SWORD to handle, too. There's that Wrecker person and his three goons-they're powerful, and we don't know how long SHIELD can keep them locked up. And who's to say that more threats like them aren't going to pop up in the future. There are dangers to this world that any single hero by themselves can't handle. There may come a time in the near future, even, when there comes an invasion more powerful that the one we just faced off against. We don't know what the future holds…but what I do know is this: together, we will always have a fighting chance."

"And that brings us to the offer," Stark said with pride. "Together, we can all work to face off these threats and the rising supervillians or would-be conquerors that could threaten peace in the future. Our offer…is that the 16 of us come together and form a team. A team to be ready for the threats too big for just one of us or a few of us."

At those words, the others were shocked and could only look at the two heroes with wide eyes and surprised looks. A team-the 16 of them, together? It was a very high-aimed idea, and also a risky one. The 16 of them each had their own responsibilities to attend to, not just as heroes, but in their own personal lives as well-families, jobs, and the like. Some of them already had an enormous amount of responsibility that could overwhelm them at any time.

"Now, before you say anything or think that your own lives don't permit you accepting this offer," Cap said, seeing the faces of the other heroes, "let me just say this: it's an overwhelming offer, one that will come with a lot of responsibility, and you may not be able to handle so much. But the benefits of being in a team are quite great. You will never have to worry about being alone against an enemy, because we'll have your back. Being a part of this team could be the thing that helps your turn your life around, or help prove that you can do good for this world. This team that we're proposing, it will be a force for good and peace and justice for Earth and for humanity that will always stand strong, no matter what. I have faith in that, even if just a few of us decide to accept this offer. We can make a difference if we work together; we can avenge the wrongs caused by supervillians and criminals and the like. Each of us brings a unique skillset to the table, one that as a team, we can definitely use. Now, I know that pretty much all of us are used to being on our own, not having to worry about anyone but yourself, and I don't blame you for being comfortable with keeping it like that. Being a part of a team takes sacrifice and compromise. But the end results…they're worth it. If we do this, we can quite possibly one day bring real peace to the world. We can protect the world from the forces of evil like never before. We can avenge the wrongs caused by supervillians. And we'll never be alone, because we will always have each other to count on."

Each of them was silent at the words of Captain America. It rang out for a few minutes, until…

"We can be Avengers," Janet van Dyne-Pym, the Wasp, said as she smiled. "Yeah…the Avengers, avenging the wrongs made by supervillians and saving the world. It has a nice ring to it…Avengers. I think it's a great idea, you two. Count me in!"

"Well, if Jan's in, then I'm in," Henry "Hank" Pym, Yellowjacket, added. "And you're right-we can do so much if we all join forces and work as a team. The potential is endless."

"Being a part of a team of heroes…world-renowned heroes that are loved by the public," Bruce Banner, the Incredible Hulk, said with a small smile, "would help prove that the Hulk can indeed be a hero, a force for good….Plus it would help keep Ross off my back. I'd be honored to be a part of this team of, what was it, Avengers. Count me and the…other guy in."

"Aye, this is truly a noble cause, Captain America and Iron Man," Thor Odinson, Norse God of Thunder, said with a big grin on his face. "A union of the mightiest champions of Midgard promises great things for the protection of Midgard. I have many duties in Asgard, and therefore I will not be here on Midgard every day, but I gave my word before you all that I would always protect this realm, for I have fallen in love with it. To do so fighting beside you all, you who have proven to Asgard that the mortals can be great warriors as well, would be like nothing I have ever done before. I am honored to be considered to be counted amongst your number. I pledge to you my strength and my hammer, for I am now an Avenger."

"…well, I have no idea how to top THAT," James "Logan" Howlett, the Wolverine, smirked. "You all know I'm an X-Man first and foremost, and the leader of X-Force. My first responsibility is to mutantkind, and I ain' ever gonna quit doin' what I do best. But Steve and Stark are right 'bout being part of a team. I guess bein' part of one more team can' hurt. Any time you need me, I'll be there…if I'm not doin' somethin' X-Men related."

"Thank you, Logan, and thank you, Thor, Wasp, Pym and Dr. Banner," Steven Rogers, Captain America, said with a smile. He then turned his attention to his fellow SHIELD agents. "Clint, Bobbi, Natalia and Jess…what do you four say?"

"Well, first of all," Clint Barton, codename: Hawkeye, answered, "this is kind of overwhelming. We're under the payroll of SHIELD, and we belong to a team already, the Secret Warriors. Under that, we're stuck with deep cover missions and the like, and Fury likes to send us halfway across the globe, like, once every other Thursday."

"There's also the fact that we each have our own agendas we follow, and that gets us to disappear for weeks or months on end without communication to the rest of the word," Natalia Romanova, codename: Black Widow, added.

"But…being a part of something more," Bobbi Morse, codename: Mockingbird, continued, "to be part of a team that helps protect the world and to do something more with our skillset…we fought just as hard as the rest of you in the invasion. It felt different at the end of it all, knowing that our victory will be appreciated, and that we're there to see the appreciation. It gives off a good feeling, and it proves that what we do makes a difference."

"So, to sum up," Jessica Drew, codename: Spider Woman, finished, "the four of us…we're in. We'll be glad to be a part of this." Clint, Bobbi and Natalia nodded their agreement.

"Glad to hear it, team," Cap smiled.

"What about you, Your Majesty?" Tony Stark, the Invincible Iron Man, asked the Wakandan monarch. "I know that Wakanda likes to keep to themselves, and it's understandable if you don't want to-"

"No, Mr. Stark, you are right," King T'Challa of Wakanda, the Black Panther, interjected. "There are threats to this world that even Wakanda, with all its advances in technology and weaponry, may find it cannot stand against. There are many enemies that seek to exploit the Vibranium my people guard, and there are those that seek to bring ruin to Wakanda. Most of them come from the rest of the world, and as King of Wakanda, it is my duty to ensure that these threats do not reach Wakanda and are held at bay. Being a part of this team, these Avengers as you call yourselves, can help me ensure that. I will fight for Wakanda from the outside. If you'll have me, I will gladly fight alongside you."

"Uh, glad to hear that, Your Majesty," Stark answered, slightly put off by his response.

"If you'll have us," Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, spoke up, "then my brother and I will also join this team of Avengers. We have many sins to atone for from our time under our father, and to work alongside the greatest heroes of the world, learning from your examples and regain the trust of humanity and earn to be called their protectors, it would greatly help us on our path to redemption."

"We are willing to do what it takes to prove that we can earn our redemption," Pietro Maximoff, Quicksilver, agreed. "We want to show that we have indeed changed our ways. Being a part of your Avengers can help us achieve that goal."

"Then welcome aboard, you two," Steve replied with a smile. "Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, what about you two?"

"Well," Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man, began. "I got to say, that being asked by Captain America and Iron Man to be a part of a team that they've started, and to work side by side with the greatest heroes on Earth…it's a bit mind boggling. I have to be honest, I was about to turn your offer down flat, because…well, I didn't think I had what it takes to be a part of something so big and meaningful. But…then I remembered what an old man once said to me…with great power must come great responsibility. I've had to deal with Jolly Jonah chewing me up for the last 11 years, and people being scared of me because of him. I've never let that stop me, though, and I've sacrificed a lot to make sure that I never repeated the same mistake I made 11 years ago with anyone else. But, you offering me to be a part of something bigger…it shows me I can do more. So, if you're willing to endure being chewed off by Jolly Jonah because I'm on the team, and to endure all the crap that may come your way because of me, then you can count me in. I'll be glad to be an Avenger." He then turned to Captain Marvel. "Oh and you also count on my-!"

"Don't finish that sentence if you know what's good for you," Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel, threatened as she glared at the vigilante.

"Ssssiiiiideeee…." Peter said, undeterred by what was literally the 53rd threat to his life this last week.

Carol's glare intensified.

"….kkiickk?"

Caro's fist clenched.

"OK!" Jess laughed as she stood up between Carol and Peter, who was still sitting on the wall. "Well, counterpart, that was quite a number of words, and good to know that you'll be joining us! I can't wait to see what my new best friend is capable of. So Carol," she added as she turned to her first best friend, "what about you?"

The blonde met Jess' gaze, then looked back Spider-Man with a death stare before turning to Steve and Stark, saying, "I will not guarantee that I won't kill him."

"So you're in then?" Stark asked with a smirk.

"Of course-Cap was right, this team thing, it has potential. Yeah, I'm used to working alone now, ever since I quit SHIELD and the Warriors, but I think working in a team will help me to do better that what I do now as a loner. So, if you're willing to have me, I'm in." Her small smile returned to a frown as she pointed her thumb at the Webhead. "But like I said, I won't guarantee I won't kill him."

"You won' even be able to touch him," Logan smirked.

"And you, Jess," Carol added as she turned back to her best friend. "I thought I was your best friend!"

"You are, and so is Spider-Man!" Spider Woman replied with a grin. "What, I can't have two best friends?"

It was childish of her to say it, but she didn't even bother to restrain herself as she looked at Peter and muttered, "I hate you."

"Join the club," came the amused reply. "We have jackets!"

"ANYWAYS," Steve interrupted. "I'd like to say thank you to you all for agreeing to be a part of this. I know it won't be easy, but I know that as long as we work and stick together, we can overcome anything that's thrown our way."

"So what now?" Pym asked.

"Well, until we can get around to addressing the issues in being a team-teamwork, base of operations, communication, and the like-I think it's best that we keep this between us for now," the super soldier responded. "We'll need to work out some kinks, and then we can let the world know on what we're doing here. Of course, if something big happens before then, and one of us needs help to contain it, we'll come help. It might reveal it all, but unless that happens, we keep this team a secret for now."

"Umm…yeah…" Stark chuckled embarrassingly as he scratched his hair. "About that, Steve…"

"Tony…" Steve replied with an arched eyebrow, recognizing this voice tone. "What did you do?"

"Well…"

'Pardon me, sir,' the voice of JARVIS interrupted. 'The press conference for the revelation of the union of the heroes into a team is about to begin. All major and minor news networks, stations and papers are waiting, and Miss Potts has security trying to keep the mass of people arriving to watch at bay. The police have arrived as well to assist.'

"Wait, a PRESS CONFERENCE?!" Natalia exclaimed.

"Tony…you didn't…" Steve face palmed.

Tony only grinned and then turned to the heroes. "You all did bring your costumes, right?"

* * *

***A Half Hour later, at the base of Stark Tower***

**11:12 EST May 14, 2012 AD**

* * *

The air was filled with the joyous screams and cheers of hundreds and hundreds of New Yorkers. Various news reporters were talking into dozens and dozens of cameras as dozens more recorded the entire event. There was a massive air of celebration in the atmosphere, and the people couldn't be blamed. Only an hour ago, the online social networks of the Internet received posts on Tony Stark's profiles of a press conference at Stark Tower about the heroes that came together during the invasion of New York uniting as one into a team to fight for Earth against any and all villains and threats. It only took a few minutes for these to spread across the globe like wildfire. Now, every single media outlet was here at the steps of Stark Tower Plaza, where Tower security were barely keeping people at bay. On the Plaza grounds before the masses stood the 16 heroes that had saved the world.

Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Mockingbird, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, the Wolverine, Spider Woman, Captain Marvel and Spider-Man.

The world's newest coalition of heroes.

The Avengers.

At least they now knew why they had to bring their costumes.

"…and we have decided to come together as one, under one banner and under one name," Iron Man said, his voice echoing from the built in microphones in his armor. "We have dedicated ourselves, from this day forward, to fight as one to protect the world from threats too big for any single superhero to withstand. I am proud to be able to fight alongside the greatest heroes the world has ever known. And we promise you all, under the leadership of myself and Captain America-but mostly by Captain America-we will always ensure the protection of mankind and of the world. To any and all alien invaders that may try to attack Earth, we say to give us their best shot! To all villains out there who think they can make the world their own personal kingdom, we say to you this: as long as the Avengers stand, you will not succeed! When you hear the words, 'Avengers Assemble,' know that you're about to be shown exactly how powerful we really are!"

The masses of people cheered on as the heroes couldn't help but smile at Stark's words.

"Avengers Assemble?" Cap asked with a smirk.

"Just made that up off the top of my head," Iron Man replied. "Seemed to fit the moment."

"So, is that our catchphrase?" Mockingbird asked.

"I guess so," Logan smirked, his claws glistening in the sunlight.

"I like it," Wasp grinned as she waved to the crowd.

"Hey, isn't that J. Jonah Jameson?" Spider Woman asked, motioning towards a rather angry man whose yelling into a phone was lost amidst the massive cheers of the crowds.

"Yeah…God I wish I had a camera to record his expression when this thing started," Spider-Man chuckled as he remembered his boss's shocked facial reaction.

All the while, people were chanting the names of random Avengers or just cheering or yelling in joy, with the media still filming and recording this live.

"So, team," Stark asked, his face mask returning to its closed position. "One for the world?" They all knew what he meant, and were ready. So, with clenched fists, a hammer, claws, a shield, a bow, a battle stave and a metal gauntlet thrust into the air, their war cry was unleashed, echoed across the distance of five blocks thanks to hidden microphones being activated by Happy Hogan on orders by Stark, enticing even louder cheers from the crowds.

"AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!"

* * *

***Baxter Building, home/campus of the Future Foundation and of the Fantastic Four; Midtown, Manhattan***

**11:17 EST May 14, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Huh…would ya look at that?"

Ben Grimmsat down on the couch next to his friend Johnny Storm, both of them soaking in the announcement that Iron Man had made to the world, as well as the promise that each of the 16 heroes there had just made to the planet. On the floor sat Franklin Richards, watching the screen with rapt attention and awe.

"Yer gone for only two weeks and the world gets invaded and there's a new team of superheroes," Grimm mused as he chuckled. "What's the world coming to?"

"Meh, the catchphrase isn't as cool as mine, though," Johnny smirked as he lay back on the sofa, a smirk on his face. "It's too bad we weren't here when those ice giants invaded; they wouldn't have stood a chance against us. Especially against me; hell, I could've taken them all on myself and saved the entire world!"

"Uh huh, sure," Ben replied with a role of his eyes. "Keep bragging like that and maybe they'll hold ya to that for the next invasion."

A few floors up, Valeria Richards was watching the same news broadcast with her mother Susan Storm-Richards. The excitement of the news and the impact it had upon the world was enough to get Reed Richards away from his experiments and equations to join them in witnessing this moment. "Wow this is so cool!" the little girl said with awe and glee. "Another team of superheroes."

"It is pretty impressive," Susan remarked with a smile on her face.

"Yes, I have to admit it really is," Reed mused; he had heard of the massive invasion he and the rest of the Fantastic Four had missed through the bombarding of news reports. Though he felt a tad bit guilty that they hadn't been here to assist in the invasion, there was comfort in knowing that these other heroes had managed to keep the world safe. And this new change in things did indeed promise a few things in possible aspects. "Things are going to get quite interesting..."

* * *

***Heroes for Hire Offices. Downtown Manhattan.***

**11:17 EST May 14, 2012 AD**

* * *

Within the meeting room, the TV rang with the announcement that was currently rocking the world. The sole two occupants watched with interest as the newly formed Avengers unleashed their announced presence.

"Huh, typical," Luke Cage smirked as he took another sip of his drink. "The big shots get all the credit for fighting off the invasion."

"Lighten up, Cage," Daniel Rand chuckled as he did the same. "I think it's pretty neat. Besides, we did what we could, as did all the other 'non-recognized' heroes here, and that's what matters."

"I guess…at least now I know who to foot the bill to."

"…Really?"

* * *

***The New Xavier Institute for the Gifted. San Francisco, California***

**8:55 PST May 14, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Oh my stars and garters," Henry McCoy said with awe and surprise as he and the other X-Men watched the TV screen, having just returned from Ireland and successfully gaining another new student. "This is quite the development, I must say."

"Yes, it is," Ororo Munroe agreed. "Logan seems to be quite pleased, I have to say. And it seems as if the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver also looked quite joyful as well."

"Ok…so I'm confused," Warren Worthington III asked with some slight curiosity as Jean Grey and Scott Summers entered the room. "Is Logan still an X-Man or is he a part of these Avengers now?"

"Logan is indeed still a faithful and loyal member to the X-Men, Warren," Professor Charles Xavier said sagely as he wheeled closer to the screen. "However, he is also now committed to this new team of united heroes, the Avengers as they call themselves. I must say, the fact that Logan, Wanda and Pietro are members of these Avengers…it may prove to help advance the cause of mutantkind. Their actions may indeed prove that there are indeed good mutants in the world, willing to fight for humanity."

"Wait, what's going on?" Scott asked, unaware of the announcements that had just shocked the planet.

"Oh, Logan and the Maximoff twins just formed a team with the other heroes that were in that invasion a few weeks ago," responded Evan Daniels. "It's pretty cool, man. The entire world is going crazy and everything."

"Really?" Scott remarked as he leaned against the wall, sighing to himself while soaking in the sounds of the TV. "Typical Logan, always hogging the spotlight somehow…" he muttered to himself with a chuckle. His fellow X-Man had shared quite the story about the invasion of New York, and though he had to admit he thought the Avengers was something for celebration, the timing did suck.

"Oh, I don't know," Jean smiled softly as she rubbed the new engagement ring on her finger as she snuggled into her new fiancé. "I still think that your timing couldn't have been any better."

"Cool, Peter's on the team, too!" Bobby Drake remarked as he saw his high school buddy on the screen. His fellow X-Woman Kitty Pryde also noticed quickly that her ex was a member of the Avengers alongside Logan. Despite the two ending on good terms and still being friends, she hadn't seen or talked to him in quite a while. Now that Logan was on this new Avengers team, she could do something about that.

Anna Marie, however, had her eyes on the heroine known as Captain Marvel. She could tell that the woman had progressed quite a bit in life since she had destroyed it. Although, Anna Marie also knew that it didn't mean that Carol had forgiven her. Something in her gut told her that with Logan being a member of these Avengers, a reunion between the Rogue of the X-Men and Captain Marvel was bound to eventually happen. And it wasn't certain to be a pleasant one.

* * *

***SHIELD Helicarrier UNS Odyssey, en route to Beijing***

**23:15 UTC May 14, 2012 AD**

* * *

"You guys seeing this?"

Agent Sam Wilson, codename: Falcon, managed to get the attention of the other Warriors towards the large screens within the weapons room they had arrived in minutes ago. Having just returned from a mission in Madripoor involving a HYDRA weapons selling, as well as dealing with the notorious Wild Pack's interference, the Warriors had been hoping to catch up on some well-deserved rest that they had been lacking for the last few days. They were instead welcomed by a shocking surprise as the black-ops unit saw five of their teammates standing proudly alongside the other heroes that had the invasion from two weeks ago head on. A team now known as the Avengers, who were now promising to safeguard the world.

Agent Daisy Johnson, codename: Quake; Agent Robbie Baldwin, codename: Speedball; Agent Jacques Duquesne, codename: Swordsman; Agent Ulysses Bloodstone, codename: Bloodstone; Agent Sharon Carter, codename: Thirteen; Agent Eden Fesi, codename: Manifold; Agent Kenneth Hale, codename: Gorilla Man; and Phobos, Greek God of Fear, were all taken aback by the sight before them. Of course, they were also quite welcome to the notion and had to admit that they thought it was pretty neat that the Avengers had formed. They also were glad to see their former teammate Carol Danvers seemed to be doing well. They all had to wonder, though, how their teammates were going to fit these new responsibilities within their already hectic lives…

Meanwhile, the command center was ringing with clapping and cheering as the screens continued to show the revelation of the Avengers to the world. Maria Hill, Phil Coulson and Clay Quartermain stared at the screens in surprise.

Fury could only smirk at the sight. "Well, what do you know?" He then sighed. He was going to be hearing from the Council soon.

* * *

***Unknown Location***

**May 14, 2012 AD**

* * *

"Erik, did you-?"

"I've seen it, Raven," the mutant terrorist interrupted, pointing to the screen on the opposite side of the room. "I am well aware of what has transpired."

"Logan and your children are with them," the blue skinned lieutenant stated.

"Indeed," the man answered. With a wave of his hand, the screen shut off. "It appears…that the humans now have a new defense. This is…intriguing."

* * *

***Throne Room of Doom, Doomstadt, Latveria***

**5:30 UTC May 14, 2012 AD**

* * *

Without a word, the dictator/monarch fired a blast at the large screen. Silence rang out in the empty throne room. Without warning, the man got up from his throne and walked towards the window that led to the throne room balcony. Stepping into the fresh air, he gazed at the European night sky, taking in the sights of the moon and stars, and then gazing downwards to the sights of the capital city of his kingdom.

Kingdom…

He considered the world to be his kingdom. He would have it.

And these…Avengers…have proclaimed that they would not let him have it?

Amusing.

"These Avengers need to be taught the error of their ways."

* * *

Epilogue:

* * *

And so, on this day, one unlike any other, a new era begins.

An era where evil will face a force of good and justice unlike any it has ever been confronted with before.

They will face great enemies and tribulations, and enemies old and new, some that no few heroes will be able to stand against on their own. Time travelers, world conquerors and masters of evil; gods and aliens and titans, of this world and beyond. Against this mass of overwhelming odds, they shall stand strong. They will not falter-not against the union of their enemies, not against those who would see humanity extinct, not against hordes of unearthly forces. They will remain firm through mistrust amongst themselves, through self-doubt, through fear, through the betrayal of one of their own in the face of lies and deception…

They will stand strong, now and forever.

I am Uatu, the Watcher, and I have witnessed the greatest event in the history of Earth and of mankind.

Today, Earth's Mightiest Heroes have assembled.

Today…the Avengers of Earth-919 are born.

* * *

**EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES**

**in**

**ASSEMBLE!**

* * *

_**XXXXX-A/N-XXXXX**_

_**And on that ending note, dear readers, I now officially welcome you all to a new saga. This is a remaking of the origins and adventures of the Avengers. This is Earth's Mightiest Heroes. This is a whole new project I've started, inspired by **_**"Justice League: The New Golden Age of Heroes," **_**by Shadow-DJ. Thank you all for the support you've given this story so far, I've really put in a lot of effort into this, and I really hope I meet and exceed any and all expectations you have.**_

_**Now, this is an AU, just to get that out of the way-histories and backgrounds will be altered, and all that good stuff. Also, I'll be writing this story in arcs, similar to comics. Inspiration for various arcs planned come from regular Marvel-verse canon and comics, the Marvel Cinematic Universe other Marvel movies like the Spider-Man trilogy, the X-Men movies, the Ultimate-verse, Avengers: EMH, the Justice League/Justice League Unlimited cartoons, and (bear with me on this one) DC's New 52, BUT only to a certain extent-literally only a few pages of the entire thing. A virtual cookie to anyone who can guess exactly I'm talking about (Hint: hint was in chapter 4 and/or 5).**_

_**Anyways, this is probably one of my biggest projects yet. I'll try to be frequent with the updates, hopefully once a week or every two weeks. I recognize I've not been as faithful with my stories as I used to-real life, you know? Still working on those other stories, though, so don't lose hope :D**_

_**Vision will appear in an Ultron arc later on.**_

_**Speaking of which, what famous Avengers stories are you hoping to see adapted in this series? I've already got a few ideas form storylines such as "World War Kang," "The Nefaria Trilogy," and "The Kree-Skrull War," but I'd like to hear from you guys :D**_

_**And before I forget, I heavily recommend you all check out "Marvel: Reborn," by aspiringactor, another great writer here on FanFic. An entire reformatting of the Marvel-verse, and I need to say that it's great and promises to only get better, so check it out. **_

_**That's it for now! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Until next time, readers.**_

* * *

**Next:**

**TEAM WORK FOR DUMMIES!**


	9. Teamwork for Dummies! Part 1

_**Sooooo…after watching DOFP, and the next Transformers movie trailer, I've decided that down the line, I'll also do an arc based off of DOFP, making it an Avengers/X-Men team up, and like how Marvel did back in the early or mid-2000s, maybe a sort of crossover arc with the Avengers and Transformers. Just thought I should mention that :D Also, I'm glad that this story is getting such positive feedback, as well as the occasional constructive criticism, I thank you who did so; it always helps me to improve. **_

_**We now fast forward around four weeks. As it is in comic and movie-verses, New York is now once again magically repaired and good as new, and the whole world is still reeling from the revelation of the newest team of heroes, the Earth's Mightiest-the Avengers! Throughout this arc, we'll be delving a bit into the backgrounds and histories in this AU. And of course, we'll be getting into how they are as a team! But of course, saying that you are a team is completely different than actually being and working as a team. Obstacles are bound to show up, as we will see.**_

_**You could say that their start up post-Loki's Invasion is…doomed…to failure…**_

_**HERE'S ARC 2! ENJOY :D**_

_**Disclaimer: Marvel owns everything.**_

* * *

Chapter 9: Teamwork for Dummies! Part 1

* * *

***Downtown Manhattan***

**9:57 June 10, 2012**

* * *

"Yep…" Peter sighed, his body racing for the concrete that was the streets of Manhattan. "Just your typical Manhattan Tuesday." And with that, his black spandex covered hand snapped out and his web shooters fired a thin line of webbing. As the 26 year old had done countless times, he gracefully arched himself into a swing as he dived down, almost being flattened onto the pavement, but as always, his Spider-Sense guided him. Once again, the Amazing Spider-Man set his sights on the supervillian that was making off with the armored vehicle.

"Well, creative he ain't," the young man chuckled. "Though, he did pack quite the punch…hard to believe it's the same guy the Punisher put away." As Spider-Man got in closer, he once again checked the thin credit card-like…card that he had been given just a week ago. "I called three times already…do these things even work?"

"Yes, Spider-Man, they do," came the deadpanned voice of Tony Stark. "We heard you-ETA is 1 minute."

"OK, boss, just checking," Peter quipped. And with that, he put away the card in his costume and began his free fall flipping descent onto the armor car. "Y'know, I'd expect him to be riding a horse…" With a thud, he landed on the top of the armored truck, and motioning for the police cars in pursuit to hold back, he shot multiple web lines towards the surrounding buildings, creating enough friction to slow the truck down, snapping it forcefully to a stop. "Ok, hopefully that didn't damage the artifacts inside." With a jump down, Peter immediately webbed all four wheels to the ground. Making sure that they weren't going anywhere, the Webhead approached the driver compartment. "OK, pal, time to come out of the vehicle nice and-!" His head began blazing. "Oh, boy…"

Spider-Man jumped away, just in time to avoid the vehicle's door being viciously kicked from its hinges, the metal flying straight into the air and crashing powerfully into a building across the intersection of the streets. As Spider-Man turned to face his opponent, police officers and SWAT units approached cautiously, forming a barrier with their bodies, pistols and handguns and machine guns loaded and ready, and they surrounded the armored truck, giving the Webhead enough room to handle the supervillian of the day.

"You dare to try to stop my crusade, man-spider?!" said supervillian yelled out, brandishing his sword and a shield with a red coloring &amp; white cross. He wore chainmail fatigues, shining purple metal boots and gauntlets, a purple cape, a red crusader-like shirt over his armored torso with a white cross on it, and a red helmet to top it all off. And he looked mad. "I will see to it that you learn the error of your ways as I cast you back to the Hell of which you came, demon!"

"Huh…y'know, Crusader, I've gotten menace, public enemy No. 1, Spider Freak, punching bag, nerd, annoyance…all kinds of things," Peter quipped. "Never got 'demon,' though…that's a new one…and I think it's been a minute already, so where are they?" he added as he looked to the sky.

"Distraction will prove to be your doom! Back to where thou hath come!" the Crusader yelled as he ran towards Spider-Man, taking a leaping jump and making to bring down his sword down and slice the Webhead in two.

"Oh, boy," Peter said as he leapt out of the way, barely dodging the attack. Due to how high his confidence and faith were right now, Crusader's attack left a massive crater. He was extremely powerful at the moment…quite a bit out of the Webhead's strength level. "OK, Arthur, let's discuss this rationally here-!"

"BEGONE!" Crusader yelled again as he continuously slashed away with his sword, Spider-Man barely managing to dodge each time. Peter then jumped out of the way, right in front of the armored vehicle. "I WILL secure these artifacts of King Richard Lionheart! The will of God shall-!"

"DEMON!" Peter yelled frantically, pointing behind the villain. Crusader made to turn back and look-only to be knocked to the ground by a fist that seemingly materialized out of nowhere, followed by a woman with insect-like wings and a purple costume growing to normal size as she landed right in front of Spider-Man. "Huh," Peter quipped, "wasn't expecting that." Looking at his finger, he murmured, "I must use these new powers for good…"

"Hey, Spidey, good to see you!" Wasp replied with a smile. "So, who is this guy?"

"Not a regular of mine-calls himself the Crusader."

"Crusader?" Jan replied, watching the Crusader get up, sword and shield in hand. "As in Arthur Blackwood, the Crusader? The guy who gets stronger the more confidence he has?" She shook her head with a sigh as she locked eyes with the villain. "I'm going to have to ask you to surrender," she told him, "or else you WILL get beat up."

"Surrender?!" Crusader laughed. "HA! I know not the meaning of the word! I shall send thee back to the hell of which thou hath spawned, and I…" he trailed off as he noticed Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Black Widow appearing on top of the armor truck he had stolen, Mockingbird twirling her staffs and the other two aiming their weapons at him.

"Hi," Hawkeye grinned, his arrow aimed right at him.

Crusader then heard something landing on the ground behind him, and turned to see the Black Panther crouched down, claws extended and daggers at the ready, looking ever so deadly as the cat he was named after. A roar of a motorcycle engine caused Crusader to turn to the body of NYPD officers and SWAT, who had parted a bit to make space for Captain America to arrive. The super soldier dismounted his bike, took up his shield, and gave his a cold stare.

Crusader looked at the assembled heroes with surprise, but it didn't last as the villain simply bowed his head and prayed. After a few seconds, he had a triumphant smile on his face. "You think that superior numbers shall win thee the day?! I am the Crusader, chosen by the saints of Heaven-!"

**FRAKAKAKABOOOOOOOOMMM!**

A roar of lightning sent a shock into Crusader as Thor descended from the skies, his helmet gleaming in the sunlight and a smirk on his face, Mjolnir in his gloved hand and the other tapping onto the weapon in a challenging manner.

Crusader didn't even get to respond before he felt the ground quake. Looking up, he saw the gigantic form of Yellowjacket lumbering forward, stepping over the police and their barricade.

A sound of wind gushing alert him to a new presence to his back above him, and Crusader turned to see Captain Marvel and Spider Woman floating in the skies, their fists glowing yellow and venomous green. Another sound of wind made Crusader turn to see Iron Man slowly descending from the skies to a floating position, his repulsors aimed right at him.

A flash of pinkish energy and the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were standing to his left, ready to engage.

The Crusader instinctively began backing away, but stopped once he felt his own body bump into another. Looking up, he saw the snarling face of the Hulk. As any sane human being would, he made a mad dash away from the green behemoth.

"So…feel like surrendering now?" Spider-Man asked.

Crusader was still for a few moments, observing the assembled heroes, before twirling his blade and giving out a battle cry. "I shall never surrender! Forever I shall stand strong, for my Lord is with me! Thou will all fall before my sword and I shall-!"

**SNIKT SNIKT!**

"Ya mean that sword?" the Wolverine deadpanned as he sheathed his claws to remove the cigar from his mouth, the cut pieces of Crusader's blade falling pitifully to the ground, much to the horror of the Crusader.

"No…NOOO!"

"Should I gut him now or wait 'till we're done with him," Logan asked as he huffed out some smoke. "Personally, I say we gut him now, but…"

"NO NO!" Crusader begged as he threw his shield away and went on his knees. "Don't kill me! I surrender, I SURRENDER!"

"Huh…" Jan chuckled. "That was easy."

"Truly," Thor mused with a grin. "His faith in his god does leave quite a bit lacking."

"That's…that's it?!" Carol exclaimed as she, Jess and Stark touched down onto the pavement. The cops were now coming forward and handcuffing the Crusader. "We get told of a powerhouse villain that's as strong as me, Hulk and Thor…and THIS happens? I was hoping for a full on fight here!"

"You complain too much, Captain Marvel," Peter replied as he turned to the officers handling Crusader, never noticing the look he got from Carol from his statement. "Alright, he's all yours, officers."

"Thanks, Spider-Man, and thank you Avengers," the sergeant in charge replied with a smile. "Having you guys work together sure is a boost in confidence for the boys in blue. Anyways, we'll have a unit take him to Ryker's, and from there a SHIELD chopper will take him to the Raft."

"He's more of a 42 or Big House guy, if you ask me," Mockingbird stated as she, Clint and Natasha walked up to them, joined by Logan. "Then again…most of the Raft prisoners should be in 42."

"Eh, Crusader ain't no problem," Logan remarked. "S'long as his faith and confidence is low, he's got no powers."

"Well, what do you think, Tony?" Steve asked as the other Avengers began discussing amongst themselves.

"Not bad for a second team-up," Stark replied, his grin hidden by his helmet. "Though we could've had a better villain…"

* * *

***Doomstadt, Latveria***

**2:33 June 14, 2012**

* * *

'Subject: SHIELD Agent Steven Rogers, AKA Captain America. Determined species: Human. Human biology empowered to the peak of human potential as a result of Project Pegasus during World War II. Chosen weapon is a shield made of a vibranium-adamantium alloy. An excellent tactician, strategist, soldier and combatant, and also able to adapt to almost any situation with ease. Threat level: Medium.

'Subject: Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man. Determined species: Human. Genius level intellect and access to great amounts of wealth, utilized to fund and built the Iron Man line of armors, each powered by a miniature yet very potent ARC Reactor, and all armed with various weaponry, the signature ones being repulsors and uni-beam. Threat level: High.

'Subject: Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk. Determined species: Superhuman [gamma empowered]. Genius level intellect via human form, with above average intelligence in Hulk form, sometimes displaying Banner's knowledge. As the Hulk, records indicate that strength, durability and stamina levels are so far unmeasurable. Further observation is required to determine power levels. Gamma radiated body results in immunity to all disease and a rapid healing factor. It must be noted that strength levels increase in proportion to Subject's anger. Threat level: Extreme.

'Subject: Thor. Determined species: Unknown; further data is needed. The self-proclaimed Norse Asgardian God of Thunder. Analysis of the footage recovered from the battle of New York suggests that Subject has a level of strength, durability and stamina that rival or even surpass that of the Incredible Hulk. Subject also has the power of flight, and can control thunder &amp; lightning via chosen weapon-a small hammer. Threat level: Extreme.

'Subject: Dr. Henry Pym, AKA Yellowjacket. Determined species: Superhuman. Genius level intellect, which has resulted in the invention of the Pym Particles. Self injection of Pym Particles has resulted in Pym's body being able to produce them biologically, resulting in size alteration, superhuman strength of up to 30 tons, superhuman stamina &amp; durability in giant form and, as of recent, bio-stingers similar to that of his wife. Ability to communicate with all species of insects via a helmet that transmits human language to a high level frequency that insects can detect. Threat Level: Medium to High.

'Subject: Janet van Dyne-Pym, AKA the Wasp. Determined species: Superhuman. Injection of the Pym Particles invented by her husband has resulted in size alteration and biological stingers. A skilled hand to hand combatant but tends to act rashly on occasion. Threat level: Low.

'Subject: SHIELD Agent Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye. Determined species: Human. Subject is a highly trained SHIELD agent, well versed in multiple fighting styles and weapons training. Also skilled in stealth ops and various forms of warfare. Preferred weapon of choice is a self-modernized bow with various trick and high tech arrow heads. Threat Level: Low.

'Subject: SHIELD Agent Barbara Morse, AKA Mockingbird. Determined species: Human. Subject is a highly trained SHIELD agent, well versed in various forms of combat, weapons training, stealth ops and warfare. Preferred weapons of choice are two metallic bo staffs coated with adamantium. Threat Level: Low.

'Subject: SHIELD Agent Natalia Romanova, AKA the Black Widow. Determined species: Human. Analysis suggests human biology has been enhanced to a similar level to Captain America. A specially trained SHIELD agent, possible training under other organizations is suggested, as skills surpass other SHIELD agents. Threat Level: Medium

'Subject: SHIELD Agent Jessica Drew, AKA Spider Woman. Determined species: Superhuman. Analysis shows that subject possesses superhuman strength, enhanced speed and stamina, enhanced durability, flight and adhesion to surfaces. Subject has also show to be able to fire energy blasts from her hands. Subject is also immune to all Earthly disease and radiation. As a SHIELD agent and former HYDRA assassin, subject has extensive training in combat, stealth, deception, etc. Analysis suggests possible powers over pheromones. Threat level: Medium to High.

'Subject: Pietro Maximoff, AKA Quicksilver. Determined species: Human Mutant. The son of Magneto. Subject's mutation invokes superhuman speed, the limits of which are unknown, rendering him undetectable to radar, sonar and other detection devices. Also well versed in unarmed combat and combat tactics. Threat Level: Medium to High.

'Subject: Wanda Maximoff, AKA the Scarlet Witch. Determined species: Human Mutant. The daughter of Magneto. Subject is well versed in arcane arts, a manner in which is similar to Jericho Drumm, the current Sorcerer Supreme. Subject's mutation invokes hexes of probability and reality altering power, as demonstrated in the incident of two years ago when almost all of mutantkind lost mutation when the Hellfire Club kidnapped Subject. Powers rival that of the X-Man Jean Grey, host of the Phoenix Force. Threat Level: Omega Extreme.

'Subject: King T'Challa of Wakanda, AKA the Black Panther. Determined species: Human. Ruler of the nation of Wakanda, Subject has access to Vibranium weapons &amp; technology, and has a genius level intellect. Reflexes and stamina surpass that of normal human levels. Threat Level: Medium.

'Subject: James Logan, AKA the Wolverine. Determined species: Human Mutant, sub species feral. Subject is a highly trained soldier, well versed in various forms of warfare, swordplay, stealth and combat. Subject's mutation invokes a healing factor, animalistic senses, enhanced strength &amp; speed &amp; stamina, and three bone claws in each arm. Under the Weapon X program, Subject's skeleton &amp; claws were coated with adamantium, making them formidable weapons. Subject is possibly immortal and death results in constant resurrection. Threat Level: High.

'Subject: Carol Danvers, AKA Captain Marvel, formerly known as Binary &amp; Ms. Marvel. Determined species: Hybrid; genes have been mutated into a cross of human &amp; Kree DNA. Subject, as a result of DNA fusion, displays superhuman strength, durability and stamina that nearly rival that of the Hulk. Subject also possesses superhuman speed and flight. Subject also displays lygokinesis: energy manipulation &amp; absorption. Threat Level: High to Extreme.

'Subject: Spider-Man. Determined species: Superhuman. Little information is possessed on Subject. Strength levels are unknown. Superhuman reflexes have been demonstrated. Subject possesses an uncanny ability to sense &amp; avoid danger, dubbed by Subject as a "Spider Sense." Webbing of Subject's creation is the weapon of choice; the material for this webbing has shown to be a variant of a material created by Norman Osborn in previous years. Due to the complexity of the creation of this substance and any and all variants, it is to be assumed that Spider-Man has an above average intelligence, most likely almost of genius level, if not already at that level. Subject has developed a unique fighting style over the course of more than a decade. Threat Level: Medium to High.'

Lucia von Bardas, a former human turned cyborg under the employment of the Latverian Monarch, and one of his most trusted (which was saying something) aides, turned away from the screen to look at said Monarch. 'Analysis of each of these Avengers have brought up few new details, and we are still unsure of how where they function as a team. I would recommend delaying the assault, as that-'

"No," came the raspy, metallic and echoing voice of the Latverian Monarch. He stood up from his throne and approached the screen and Bardas. The man was encased in a suit of armor, not as advanced looking as that of Tony Stark since it looked similar to a medieval suit of armor, but just as well powered and advanced as Stark's suits, nonetheless. His entire body was covered in a dark green royal hooded cloak and cape. He was highly skilled in technological weaponry and arcane arts, rivaling that of Brother Voodoo, the Hellstromms and the Scarlet Witch. He was a man feared across the globe and placed #1 on SHIELD's 10 most wanted for 5 years now. "We carry out with the assault. They are still getting used to being a part of a team. There first moments are the best moments to strike, when they are distrusting of each other and unaccustomed to working as one unit. That is their greatest weakness. We shall carry out as planned, Lucia."

'Understood, Lord Doom,' Bardas responded, and she left the room, the screen remaining on as her Lord stared at the heroes on the screen. The Avengers…they who unknowingly challenged him when they formed themselves into one unit. The fools…they were all experienced in their fields, but as one unit, right now and so fresh from starting off…they were weaker than ever before.

Victor von Doom would see to it that they learned to not make such bold challenges in such a weak state of being.

* * *

***Maria Stark Mansion, New York City***

**9:36 June 16, 2012**

* * *

Pepper Potts had long ago found that working under Tony Stark meant that there was never a dull moment in her life anymore. What with her boss/lover being Iron Man and having his own gallery of villains and being a CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, there was always something to look forward to each and every day, more so in the Iron Man department. Like in the last few weeks, for instance, when her boss/lover and his good friend Captain America decided to form a team of heroes dedicated to the protection of humanity and the world. As such, Tony had to get a good many things together, like a base, communication and the whole shebang. And after a few weeks, he was finally ready with it all. And now, here Pepper was, in front of the Maria Stark Mansion, waiting for all the Avengers to arrive.

She checked her watch again, sighed and turned to her right. "Well…thank you for being the only one on time."

The Hulk opened his eyes and turned to look down at the attractive redhead. He was currently leaning back on the brick walls that surrounded the mansion grounds, and was getting many a stare from passersby. "You're welcome," he said simply, once more closing his eyes and turning away. "Contrary to popular belief, I could be punctual and well-mannered if I need to."

"I…wouldn't have expected that," Pepper replied, honestly surprised at that. "You really should try and teach Tony some of that punctuality."

"…Yeah, that sounds like a job for Banner," Hulk replied. Pepper couldn't help but smirk at that.

At that moment, Thor descended from the skies, hammer in hand and a grin on his face. "Ho, fair maiden," he greeted as he came to Pepper and Hulk. "Tis a pleasure to see you again, Miss Potts. And friend Hulk, a great joy to see you again. What say you, my fellow Avenger? Are you ready for all the great battles and victories that we shall have in the future?" he said with a smile as he placed a friendly hand on the titan's shoulder.

"Are you ready to get a watch, Blondie?" Hulk growled back, shoving Thor's hand away. "You're late."

Thor frowned in annoyance, obviously bothered by this response and the Hulk's attitude. Before he could respond in any way, though, the Wasp appeared, along with Yellowjacket. "Hey, everyone, sorry we're late," Jan apologized with a smile, growing back to full size alongside her husband. "I had to drag Hank away from his lab…again."

"It was an important experiment," Hank defended himself, as the Hulk and Jan rolled their eyes.

"So, did we miss anything?" came the voice of Clint Barton as he, Bobbi Morse, Jessica Drew and Natalia Romanova walked up to them, each one wearing causal civilian wear with a duffel bag filled with their uniforms and weapons inside. "Doesn't seem like anything's happened much."

"That's kind of because I've been here waiting for all of you…and Tony," Pepper sighed in exasperation. "The only one who actually showed up on time was Hulk."

"Whoa, really?" Bobbi asked. "That is actually a surprise. I don't mean to offend you by saying that, Hulk, I'm just saying I wasn't expecting it." Hulk's only response was a scoffing grunt.

"Regardless, I think we can all guess who'll show up the latest," Natalia smirked.

"I can bet on that," Jessica smirked. "Anyways, the reason we're late is because we had to get debriefed on a mission we just came back from for Fury. We've just come back at 2am this morning, and we just came from the Helicarrier."

"Understandable, Spider Woman," Pepper replied with a smile. "But what are you all doing with those duffel bags?"

"Well," Natalia explained. "Since Stark finished developing this new base of operations, and it's supposed to be living commodity-friendly, and whatnot, Steven suggested that instead of the four of us living on the SHIELD Helicarrier half the time while bunking at temporary residences the rest of the time, we could take up residence here."

"Bobbi and I are just doing it for now until we find an apartment here in the city," Clint added.

"Hey, guys, guess who showed up early today," Spider-Man said as he made his presence known, swinging onto the scene and landing next to Jan and Pym. He still wore the same black costume, making a few of the other Avengers wonder just how long it took to fix his regular costume.

"Well, there goes that bet," Jessica smirked, along with Natalia. "Good to see you again, Spider-Man. It's quite a surprise indeed, seeing you here on time."

"Was there not any distress occurring across New York?" Thor asked curiously.

"Not really; I mean, apart from the occasional mugging, it's been kind of slow," Peter replied. "A bit too slow, if you ask me, really. I have a nagging feeling that something big is going to happen…and of course, now that I said that, something big is probably going to happen now. That's just my luck."

"Cheer up, Spider-Man," Jessica grinned. "Remember, you're part of a team of superheroes now."

"Yeah, that's true," Peter grinned as Captain Marvel touched down. "I can imagine the faces of the Sinister Six if I show up with you guys as back up. Man, that sure would be a good day."

"Ok, if he's here before me, then I really must be late," Carol remarked as she rolled her eyes.

"If it makes you feel any better, we're all kind of late," Jan offered as she gave her friend a warm hug. "Hulk was the only one on time, actually."

"As he so clearly stated," Thor said with a bit of agitation, which wasn't lost on the Hulk.

"You got a problem, Goldilocks?" the titan growled, getting up off the wall he was leaning on slightly, to which Thor responded by turning his body fully towards the Hulk and his fist clenching, instinct that had been drilled into him for millennia now. Instantly, the atmosphere around the present Avengers grew tense. It looked like a brawl between the most powerful superhuman on Earth and a god was about to take place, and after seeing Thor in action during their battle against Loki, they knew that a fight like that would be catastrophic at minimum. Luckily, before anything could escalate, the Black Panther arrived in the Royal Wakandan Embassy limo, his guards bowing in respect for his sovereignty before the limousine drove off.

"My apologies for not arriving at the appointed time, Miss Potts," T'Challa said as he joined his fellow Avengers. "There was a matter of importance to the safety of Wakanda I had to tend to that couldn't be ignored."

"Think nothing of it, Your Highness; no one else is early either, except for Hulk."

"Your Majesty," Bobbi began, "if this is still about the White Gorilla clans, our offer for any aid we can give still stands, you know. With HYDRA giving M'Baku-"

"As I stated before, Agent Morse, SHIELD's offer to help is appreciated," T'Challa interrupted. "However, the White Gorilla clans will be dealt with by Wakandan standards. We will always continue to deliver any and all HYDRA prisoners we capture to SHIELD, but Nick Fury knows that Wakanda fights its own battles."

"Except for that one time the X-Men saved your kingdom from the Brotherhood," Pietro offered as he and Wanda walked over to the group, both wearing their costumes. "You didn't seem to have a problem then."

"Ignore him, T'Challa," Wanda remarked with a roll of her eyes.

"Ok…how the hell are YOU late?" Peter asked. "Don't you have super speed? You should've been the first one here!"

"Yes, we should've," Pietro sighed, turning to look at his twin sister with a mild glare. "Of course, Wanda, however, doesn't have superhuman speed as I do, and you know the myths about a woman getting ready to go out." At those words, Wanda sighed and rolled her eyes again, but this time there was an ever so faint blush and smile on her face.

Peter &amp; Clint were the only two present who could sympathize with that, both saying, "I feel you, man."

"What're we talkin' bout?" Logan asked as he pulled up with Captain America on their motorcycles. Logan was wearing his usual leather jacket over his X-Men uniform, and Steve was wearing his Captain America uniform minus the helmet-cowl fusion. "I heard Brotherhood-we goin' after Magneto today? You guys sure work fast."

"No we're not going after the Brotherhood, Logan," Steve smirked as they dismounted their bikes. "Today is just the team getting a bit more acquainted and all of us seeing exactly where we'll be based out of now that we're all a team. It looks as if we're…ok, where's Stark? This was all his idea for us to be here today!"

"I'm here, I'm here!" came the voice of the CEO billionaire as Iron Man arrived on scene, flying in and descending onto the pavement. He removed his helmet and gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry I'm late everyone-had a business meeting to attend, and I was running a bit late." Tony noticed Pepper give him a look, a look he recognized after the last few years, and he decided to come clean. "Ok, not really…I missed that meeting…ANYWAYS, thanks for coming today, everyone."

"What's this all about, Tony?" Steve asked with a smile, surprising everyone present. They all assumed that since both he and Stark where unofficially chosen by silent mutual agreement from them all as the team leaders of the Avengers. The fact that apparently, Steve had no idea what Stark had called them all here for was surprising. Just what did Stark have planned up his sleeve for this occasion?

"Glad you asked, Capsicle," Stark replied with a smile as he turned and gestured to the mansion that was behind them. "Now that we're all operating as a single team, besides us all doing our own little things too, we need to be able to have a place where we can meet and talk about supervillian threats and other stuff. Don't get me wrong guys, I'd like to have you all in Stark Tower-after all, 'Avengers Tower' does have a nice marketing ring to it…but that's not the point. We need to have our own base of operations, where we can gather and share information, where we can be sure anything we bring would be in safe hands and were we can house the large databases we'll have in keeping track of what's going on in the world and what we respond to. And as top priority, to make sure that wherever we base ourselves, that any nearby civilians are safe and out of harm's way if our enemies decided to stop by for a visit at some point."

The bustle of the streets of Manhattan behind them was the answer to Stark's last remark. The traffic sounds, a trademark of Manhattan nowadays, honked and beeped and screeched, all while dozens upon dozens of people walked on the sidewalks that coated the streets, heading to whatever destinations they had in mind. A number of people had seen that the Avengers were assembled on one of the sidewalks, and a crowd was starting to gather, with pictures being taken and people wondering if they could get autographs.

"Stark, we're in Manhattan," Spider-Man said. "There's nothing BUT civilians around here."

"Meaning that anyone who tries to attack us here will definitely be putting innocent lives at stake here," Pym also commented.

"And then they could use 'em as leverage or hostages or whatever," Logan added in.

"Stark Tower at least had the advantage of our area being so high up," Mockingbird also remarked. "Any attack on the team would have to come in from an aerial formation, or maybe someone shooting from the ground, but if it were like that, then civilians could easily escape from a situation like that. Here…the terrain makes it kind of vulnerable."

"Did you think this through, Stark?" Hulk asked in a deadpanned voice.

After hearing all that, Stark was silent for all of five seconds before his head hung down as his metal-encased hand went onto his head. "Ok…maybe that was a bad idea…" But an instant later, his head came back up, determination and resolve back on his face. "But I already had all the work done and the project is already finished, so I'm going through with this. We needed a base, I finished preparing a base, and now we have a base. And besides, with all the tech upgrades and defense mechanisms and programming I've come up with and installed, we'll be ready for any and all attacks that could ever come our way or to our new headquarters. Avengers, allow me to welcome you all to Avengers Mansion!"

The other Avengers took in the sight of the mansion once more, correctly assuming that this was the Mansion that Iron Man was speaking of. They searched for any of the "stuff" that Stark said he had done to it over the last couple of weeks; being that Tony Stark was one of the most, if not THE most, well known and uncannily skilled in technology and the like, they expected to see some high tech installments, or some advanced defense systems, or at least a few security cameras along the mansion's outer perimeters and wall and brick walls surrounding the mansion grounds. They found that it all just seemed to be a regular mansion to their eyes.

"Looks pretty…" Bobbi began.

"Bland," Natalia finished, an eyebrow arched on her head. "All I see is a regular old mansion."

"That's what it looks like on the outside of these walls," Stark replied, a smug smirk on his face. He was clearly quite proud of how he had worked whatever magic he had done in the mansion. "It's what's within the walls that have the magic. JARVIS, let's show them just what we're talking about."

'Very well, sir," the AI voice of JARVIS responded, shocking the other Avengers. It was then that from a panel next to one of the gates, the covering slid away to reveal a scanning device that also had a speaker. 'Hello, Avengers, and welcome to Avengers Mansion; as you may already know, I am Mr. Stark's Artificial Intelligence named JARVIS, and I am the entity that runs the entire mansion. Please, step inside.' At that, the metallic gates slowly slid open, allowing the group to enter into the mansion grounds via a brick and limestone path.

"The metal gates have been reinforced with adamantium, as have the brick walls," Stark said proudly. "That scanner that you all saw, that's for those of us who can't easily come in over the wall to scan the IDs I gave you all earlier, which JARVIS will recognize and grant you entrance." As they all continued down the path, they all took in the scenery that was on the mansion grounds-about a half dozen trees just on this side of the mansion, a large fountain and a number of shrubs and flowers, all along a lawn of perfectly trimmed and well-tended grass that glistened as any emerald should. "Now, this lawn and the other on the other sides of the mansion are covered with scanners and motion detection devices. If there's anything going on here that JARVIS recognizes as any threatening activity, the entire first three lines of defense are activated."

"THREE lines of defense?" Wanda gasped.

"What kinda defenses we talkin' here, Stark?" Logan asked, his interest picked up.

"Well…let's just say that you don't want to be around that fountain when the defenses go up," Stark replied with a laugh.

They all approached the front doors to the mansion-a large pair of cream-painted oak doors, each reinforced with a coating of adamantium and vibranium, with a gold colored handle on each door. Leading up to the mansion was a set of limestone steps that led to a slightly elevated porch, also made of limestone. Next to the large doors, where a normal doorbell would be, another scanning device was stationed, this time with not only a speaker but built in retina scanners and a hand print scanning device.

"This is a secondary device to help ensure that only Avengers and any guests enter, and that they are who they say they are," Stark explained. Scanning his ID card, his eyes and his hand, uncovered by the metallic gauntlet he was wearing, and with that, the large doors opened. "Step inside everyone, and prepared to be amazed." The other Avengers proceeded to step inside, but Captain America held back, needing to speak to Stark.

"Tony…yesterday, Fury spoke to me about all this-the Avengers. He doesn't seem too against the idea, but from what I'm seeing, the World Security Council isn't exactly supportive of the idea at all. Both are kind of nervous about this whole thing, and Fury made it clear he wants to speak to both of us. Just thought you should know, since he's planning to stop by some time tonight." And with that, the Super Soldier proceeded inside. Stark sighed; he should've expected this. He and Cap were working on something that could prove to be a great benefit for humanity, and people were getting scared about all these superpowered beings coming together. He figured the two of them may as well get it over with when the time comes. With a shake of his head, he refocused on the task at hand and headed on inside the mansion, ready to show off the magic.

His fellow Avengers were going to be in for a surprise.

* * *

_**XXXXX-A/N-XXXXX**_

_**OK, everyone, the first part to the next arc is complete! With a title like Teamwork for Dummies, you can be pretty sure that this isn't going to start off so well, and I can promise you that there will be quite a bit of conflict. I'm debating on the typical Hulk/Thor tension and beat down that would happen before they become the somewhat best of buds. Do you guys want to see that? Let me know.**_

_**I think it's pretty obvious who the villain for this arc is going to be. It may seem overkill, but I think it fits, especially after the bit at the end of the last chapter. Inspiration from this story arc comes in part from Avengers: EMH episodes "Some Assembly Required" and "The Private War of Doctor Doom," The Avengers #2 (1963) and Dark Avengers, the Siege arc.**_

_**Next Issue (huh, that sounds pretty good…ISSUE :D yeah I'm keeping that!), we tour this interpretation of Avengers Mansion, and get to know our Avengers a bit…and start the seeds of both the tension between the team and the plots that our villain is getting ready to tear them apart.**_

_**Until Next Time, True Believers! (That might be a bit of overkill…)**_

_**PS. If there are any questions in regards to what to expect in the future for this series, please do not hesitate to ask! :D**_


	10. Teamwork for Dummies! Part 2

_**Hey, guys, it's been a while. Now, there are some things I want to speak (well…write) about. Namely, number one, no I have not seen Guardians of the Galaxy yet, but I plan to see it this weekend :D Secondly, I have contemplated to make a story arc on this story based off of the movie "Lucy," and call it "Natalia" here. It's in the planning stages, and there are some issues I have to work out with it (namely new characters to replace the ones on the movie, and actually having Natalia/Black Widow turning back to her normal self…) but other than that, it all seems to be a work in progress.**_

_**Also, if anyone noticed, two of my other stories were also taken down by me: Kill the Spider and When Wonders Strike Back. Kill the Spider…I really had the energy for it, but I had the problem of not having any coherent plot or storyline to get from a beginning to the very end, which was what I had completely ready in my mind. It proved too difficult, so I set it aside…for now. I may be bringing it back later on. As for When Wonder Strike Back (which I doubt anyone ready this was following) a combination of lack of interest by viewers and on my part killed it off. That unfortunately isn't coming back.**_

_**Another thing is I'll be disappearing from the publishing world for a bit. The time of college draws near again, and it's time to get things all ready. I'll still be around reading and stuff, and I'll reply to any and all PMs, but updates will be near nonexistent for the rest of August after this week.**_

_**And finally, a last note…**_

_**I'm pissed.**_

_**Why? Let me tell you a funny story…I was searching around on FanFiction, looking for stories that I may enjoy and want to follow. I stumbled across a story entitled "Avengers Assemble," by some guy/girl named phantom00. Naturally, I was like, "Oh, cool, I should check it out," being it promised to be a story similar to what aspiringactor and I are doing with Marvel: Reborn and this story, respectively. So, I checked it out. And I found he had plagiarized a very large and good portion of my story.**_

…_**on second thought, not very funny.**_

_**From those of you who actually converse with me on this site, you known I'm a relatively nice guy (at least I hope I am). I help out if needed, and I am not afraid to bounce ideas on and off other authors. Prime example: Dakkaman777; we have similar work, because we exchange ideas back and forth and see what we like and don't like. But this…no, this is entirely different. I'm sorry if it seems I'm making a big deal out of this, but I spent many long hours writing this story, I worked with blood and sweat and tears (well really just the sweat) to make this story as good as it can be, and to have some random individual come along and steal my work and use it for their own and actually publish it as their work? That is just wrong. I put a great deal of effort and it's just being stolen. Now, I've alerted said phantom00 almost 2 weeks ago that I've caught on with this and I demanded that he take down his "story" and admit to plagiarizing, but in retrospect, that probably isn't going to happen…besides, he never responded. So, in my anger, I did what any sane man would do.**_

_**Reported the story to the Admins, and blocked him from viewership of my profile &amp; stories (at least I think that's what it does…).**_

_**Childish? Perhaps. But necessary, because I really had no other option, and I refuse to let my hard work become someone else's profit. I put time and effort into this, and I will not stand for this.**_

_**Oh, and cornholio, if you're reading this, I suggest you do the same, since some of that "work" also looks like your own.**_

_**And speaking of which, I am quite surprised no one ever brought this up to my attention a while back.**_

…

_**Well, that's enough from me. Here's Teamwork for Dummies, Pt 2. Marvel owns everything.**_

* * *

Chapter 10: Teamwork for Dummies, Part 2

* * *

***Avengers Mansion***

**9:47 June 16, 2012**

* * *

"Big…" Peter whistled as he entered the Mansion. "Really big."

The Web Head was right-the mansion was very big in its interior. Right upon entry, the Avengers were greeted by a massive entry hall with a pair of solid oak-metallic fused spiral grand staircases leading up to a second floor mezzanine that had a long path, with paintings on the walls, that turned off to lead into another hallway with dormitories. The floors were pure marble, shiny and glistening with each tile. Right in the middle of the floor was a massive imprinted logo of a large capital "A" with a signature arrow in the letter's middle, with the entire "A" encased in a thick circle, all in the color red. Along the walls were large stained color glass windows of various images. There were a few doors that led to various other rooms in the mansion. The ceiling was very high up and held a massive gold-tinted chandelier with unlit candles. Along the walls also were a number of potted plants and some statues.

"Yes, Spider-Man," Tony smirked proudly. "This is pretty big...and this is just the entrance, mind you. We still have a lot of mansion to go through. Now, as you can see here, this is just the entry hall, and up there on the mezzanine, we have a few paintings up there, each with a hidden camera behind each of them…just some more security stuff, guys. Up there in the mezzanine, that hallways leads to a set of dorms, 16 exactly, one for each of us for when we need to stay a night or...seven."

"Wait…" Clint remarked. "Seven nights?"

"Yep, that's another thing that I'll be discussing later on," Stark replied.

"Well, I still gotta say," Logan interjected as he took in the surroundings around him. "Pretty sweet pad you got here."

"And just the beginning I assume," Steve guessed.

"You assume correctly," Stark replied with a smirk. "There is waaaay more where this came from..."

"The mansion had a fully stocked kitchen, with a crew of five star chefs on call 24/7," Stark said five minutes later as the team stood in a magnificent kitchen, complete with chrome steel plated counters and cutting boards, with pots and pans and various utensils hanging from the hooks connected to the cupboards along the walls; there also was a trio of fully stocked fridges, pantries, food cupboards, wine cells &amp; ice boxes...each, along with a stainless steel sink with dishwasher &amp; dryer, and numerous plates &amp; cups.

"...A few conference rooms if we ever need to meet with diplomats or dignitaries, government officials, lower level SHIELD &amp; SWORD guys, that sort of thing," Stark added as they all stared into one room with a large rectangular mahogany table with chairs set for 30.

"...a fully equipped library filled with books and texts on any subject &amp; genre," Stark added a few minutes later, with the team watching as Spidey, Hank, Carol, Wanda, Natalia and even Thor found themselves submerged in all the books.

"A number of lounging areas, completely with plush sofas, HD 80 inch plasma T.V. screens and theater sound system and hundreds and hundreds of channels," Stark continued as he showed off just one of the many lounges.

"...rooms for each of us if we chose to remain here for an extended period of time, if not full time, with maid service and king sized beds and only the best luxuries a room can have," the multi-billionaire yelled out as he stood in the halls, while each of the other heroes were checking out their own quarters.

"The mansion also has its own laundry room, dining room set for 30, massage room manned by JARVIS, a pool on the roof, and this master lounging area with a nice fireplace," Stark finished as he, the rest of the team and Pepper took seats in the sofas &amp; club chairs.

"Well, I need to admit it, I am very jealous of you right now," Peter said with a small smirk and awe in his voice.

"Now there's a shock," Logan chuckled as he took another sip of the beer he grabbed from one of the kitchens.

"I love this setup," Jan added as she relaxed on one of the sofas. "I could get used to this."

"Ok...I'm going to bite," Hank said, with an unimpressed look. "Tony, you said that you were working on an awesome headquarters for the team, one that would be better that state-of-the-art or anything that SHIELD has. From what I'm seeing...did you really spend weeks preparing...this?"

"He's right, Tony," Steve agreed. "I kind of expected...a lot more."

"What, you mean all this?" Stark asked as he whirled his arms around gesturing to the rooms. "Oh, these were all finished in a day, and it's all just for show and our personal enjoyment. I haven't even gotten to the REALLY good stuff. JARVIS, if you please?"

'Right away, sir,' the AI responded as the fireplace, to the other Avengers' shock and surprise, retreated its form into the wall and then was raised into the ceiling, fire and all, to reveal a secret elevator, with enough entry room for all of them, even Hulk.

"Okay, I am officially impressed now," Carol whistled.

"Spankin'!" Jan added.

"Just like the school," Logan smirked.

"Well, I've shown you all the three levels that people see from the outside of the mansion and what they give," Stark said smugly as he motioned for everyone to follow him into the elevator. Once everyone was in, the elevator doors closed and they all began to descend downwards, and since the doors were see through, they could all see just all the work that Stark had said he put. "And now, ladies and gentlemen...I present to you the Avengers Mansion sub-levels, where the real magic begins..."

"First stop, sub-level 1: the training and workout facilities," the Armored Avenger began. "This place has it all-a fully set of regular gym equipment, complete with barbells &amp; dumbbells ranging from 20 to 300 pounds; a gun and archery range, specially for our local SHIELD agents; about 30 regular and superhuman-custom reinforced punching bags that allows for any of us to go all out if we choose; a gymnastics and acrobatic course; an electronic run barbell weight machine that can have its weight adjusted to accommodate for the heavy hitters like Thor, Hulk and Captain Marvel; a number of treadmills; a fully equipped track field; and you see those three entries over there on the far wall? One leads to a fully equipped gymnasium if anyone wants some down time playing basketball or soccer or whatever; the second leads to a 25ft by 40ft ring that meets all standard regulations, except for size obviously, and is fully customized and fit for superhuman use...along with a set of stands should anyone want to watch. The last room is a battle simulation room, equipped with an array of computerized combat levels, handled by JARVIS, and a full arsenal of weapons and other goodies; I designed it to work with each of us individually, and it works by analyzing fighting and combat techniques and responding accordingly. Kind of like the X-Men's Danger Room, actually."

"Wow...didn't think I'd be seeing something like THAT again..." Carol sighed, remembering just how hard a challenge the Danger Room gave her back in her times as Binary with the X-Men. "But regardless, this is...it's..."

"It's like Christmas came early this year," Hawkeye interjected as he took in everything. "The Helicarrier has nothing on this!"

"Stark, you really did it this time," Natalia smirked as she eyed the punching bags and gun range.

"I agree; it is quite spectacular. I am anxious to use the ring, myself," Pietro added with his own smirk, at which Wanda rolled her eyes.

"I want one..." Carol sighed with longing.

"Meh...not like I'll use it or anything," Hulk scoffed.

"Really?" Stark smirked. "I mean, I was thinking of you when I made some of these modifications, Hulk. There are combat simulations that I programmed specifically with you in mind. I didn't think you'd be one to just sit around here in the Mansion with nothing to do or anything. The ring is even set up to resist your level of strength...well, at least the highest documented level of your strength."

"What do I need to use a gym or a workout for?" Hulk replied with a raised eyebrow. "I've never needed it before; the bad guys come, I smash them-end of story."

"There may yet come a day when simple 'smashing' will not be enough, Hulk," Thor interjected. "Even your strength may one day find its match again, as it did against the Destroyer and against Loki. Or do you not remember that day?"

"That was nothing but a fluke...or are you trying to say something, Goldilocks?" Hulk replied, and the air suddenly grew a bit tenser.

"I am," the Thunder God replied. "An occasional opportunity offered to better oneself is nothing to be wasted."

"I'm the strongest thing on this planet; there's no need for me to get any better," Hulk huffed, turning away. "No reason for me to use this place."

"Even to see which of us is the stronger, in the ring?" Thor challenged, immediately regaining the green titan's attention. A cross between a snarl and an arrogant smirk found itself on the Asgardian's face. "I would enjoy seeing if there is truth to your title as the strongest one there is..."

"You wanna go, Goldilocks?" Hulk replied, the same facial expression on his face. "Just name a time."

"...I'm suddenly thinking this was a bad idea," Bobbi murmured while Natalia cursed in Russian.

"Ok!" Stark interjected as he flew in between the team's two most powerful members. "How about we NOT start a massive brawl between teammates that also damages the entire base?! Especially you, Hulk, since you and/or Banner will be one of the Mansion's full time residents."

"Hulk…" Banner said as man and beast looked at each other within the mindscape.

"Hmmph...Not worth it," Hulk grumbled as he turned away from the Thunder God, with everyone else who wasn't one of the two letting out a small sigh of relief.

Five minutes later, the elevator descended and reached what Stark called Sub-Level 2. "This, my friends, is the lab facilities," Stark said proudly as he showed the other Avengers a massive laboratory filled with high tech equipment and software, state of the art computers and a number of Stark Industries patented touch-screen and 3D modeling software projection equipment **(A/N: The tech from The Avengers movie, in the Helicarrier and Stark Tower)**. Off to the far wall was a massive array of network systems and stations, a titanium door which had the work "ARMORY" it, a number of tools hanging on the ways and so much more. There were a large number of lab tools and equipment, enough to make any scientific mind explode in pure joy. "This little room was made with Hank, King T'Challa, Banner, myself and-if you're interested-even Thor &amp; Spider-Man in mind. State of the art equipment at a moment's use, full connection to the Stark Industries network, the best computers and simulators money can buy, and this place is where the free Wi-Fi comes from. Also, there's that door over there that leads to my armory, where most of my armors will be stored from now on; tech that is better than even the tech on the SHIELD Helicarrier, and a few machines and tech equipment. There's also a space set aside for Hank's own portable lab here."

"I think I'm in love," Peter said as he took it all in, feeling like a kid in a candy store.

"Same here," Pym added, so sucked in he didn't even feel Jan swat his arm.

"Banner would love this," Hulk mused.

"Very impressive, I must say," T'Challa remarked.

"Indeed, Iron Man," Thor added. "I believe I may enjoy myself here on an occasion or other."

"Wait, how did you know I would love this kind of thing?" Peter asked with realization.

"Spider-Man, your webbing is based off OsCorp technology, and that particular compound...I happen to know how many minds and months it took to develop that material. Sure, OsCorp stopped development of the material a few years ago, but you kept using your own variant of the material and made it, well for lack of a better term, even better than how Norman Osborn _(here, only Logan and Jessica noticed the ever so slight wince that crossed the Webhead's body at the mention of Osborn's name) _had developed it originally. That alone tells me of your intelligence, if not genius."

"Oh...well, alright then."

Sub-Level 3, as Stark introduced it as, proved to be a medical infirmary, but unlike anything that hospitals-civilian, private or military-had. 20 medical beds were aligned on the walls, fully equipped and prepared. A surgical area was set aside and also was fully stocked with some of the best equipment any of the Avengers had ever seen. Various medical technology-sonars, x-rays, cat scans, MRIs, PET Scans, med labs, First Aid Kits...the list went on. There were even two pregnancy wards, fully stocked and ready for use. Stark went on to explain how a full crew of doctors and nurses were on call 24/7 if need be, and how all the technology was state-of-the-art and cutting edge, reinforced by Stark Industries Tech and even bits from SWORD tech, in regards to alien physiology (i.e. Captain Marvel and Thor).

Another two minutes later, the team arrived at Sub-Level 4, which at first appearance held nothing but a massive hangar-like room with some sort of large pool in place of the floor. From the elevator, a platform served as a pathway to a port like platform in the exact middle of the large pool.

"I thought you said the pool was on the roof, bub," Logan remarked.

"It is," Stark replied as he worked with a few buttons on his metallic gauntlet's hidden computer. "This is the Mansion's main Hangar area, where the Avengers' main method of transportation is kept. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Avengers Quinjets, MQ-One &amp; MQ-Two at our service." At that moment, the rumbles of hydraulics turning rang out, and the other Avengers looked to the massive pool to find it being pushed aside by two hydraulic metal doors rising and opening, one on each side of the platform. As the doors opened, two more platforms rose up, with each one holding an aircraft that looked like a cross between a small bomber plane and a fighter jet. Each was silver in color with red lining on the edges of the wings, the entirety of the fins, the front tips and the rear with the thrusters. Along the sides of each of the jets was the similar capital "A" style they had seen when they had entered the Mansion. The cockpit window glass was colored dark yellow, and tinted so that it wasn't easy to see within them. The moment the platforms on which they rested upon had risen sufficiently, the two Quinjets activated simultaneously and began to rise &amp; and hover slightly, the roars of their engines and thrusters powerfully showing just what good aircraft they were. "Both Quinjets are prototypes, something I've had in my mind since before my 'stop-making-weapons' enlightenment. They're both powered by miniature versions of my ARC Reactor, making them both green and fast-highest speed is Mach 3, if I'm not mistaken. Anyways, each can hold up to 10 people; they have full access to the Stark Industries network, are equipped with the usual state-of-the-art tech systems, have a GPS locator so we can find it if one is lost or crashed, and have the best comms and communications systems I can afford...so you know it's good," Stark said. The Quinjets suddenly hummed with power as each revealed compartments opening, revealing missiles, energy guns and laser cannon on each of them. "Oh, and each are equipped with some of the best weaponry &amp; cloaking systems I have to offer. They're also waterproof and can function as submarines, as well as having space travel capabilities, like if we ever need to head to the Peak."

"Pretty impressive, Tony," Captain America complimented with a nod.

"Truly," Thor agreed.

"I would like to see how exactly they fare against Wakandan defenses and technology," Black Panther commented.

"Ok...I am officially in love with these things," Carol muttered, going googly-eyed over the aircraft before her, yearning to fly them and engage with them in aerial combat.

"This definitely makes things for those of us who can't fly a lot easier," Wanda remarked. Spider-Man, Pym, Quicksilver, Natalia, Mockingbird, Jess, Clint, Hulk, Cap, Logan and Pietro nodded their agreement.

"I knew you all would like them," Iron Man said with pride. "The Quinjets can be ejected into airspace in two ways: the normal fashion, in which it takes off from the Mansion backyard grounds via a hidden opening, or for emergencies, through a tunnel leading to the Hudson River, and going through there."

"So...what's the water for?" Bobbi asked.

"Eh, just for show. It's pumped and recycled back &amp; forth from the Hudson."

"Well, you certainly have been pretty busy in here, Tony," Jan commented, really psyched about how this was all going. "What else you got to show us?"

"Not much, really," Stark replied as he led them back to the elevator, the Quinjets powering down and returning to their hangers behind them. "The very last two Sub-Levels are just filled with tech stuff that keeps the mansion from falling apart-generators, the ARC Reactor powering the mansion, security systems and the like. But there is one more surprise I got for the team, so if you'll all follow me…"

A minute later, they had descended down one more floor, Sub-Level 5, and upon arriving, they came upon a massive hall with blue colored walls and floor light and roof lights shining the room, and the hall was empty save for a massive red and silver table in the direct middle, with 16 chairs surrounding the table, and three screens along the three walls facing the elevator. The table itself seemed to hold some kind of technological vibe to it, hinted via the large projector-like lens that was located in the exact middle of the table. There were also screens installed into the table in front of each of the chairs.

"This, my friends, is the Avengers Assembly Hall," Stark said as each of them entered the room "This is where we'll be having our team meetings and updates, and where we'll be preparing ourselves for missions and the like. As you can see, there's a seat for each of us. The screens are to show targets, supervillains out there, satellite feeds, infrared and heat images, and all that kind of stuff. The projector lens in the middle of the table is what we'll use to directly communicate to guys like Fury, Brand and others; it also will be our main demonstration user, where we'll get the details of missions or potential disasters, which will also be provided for us on our personal touch screens, located in front of each of our chairs, with each screen equipped with the same 3D virtual aid tech I provided the Helicarrier. And...well that kind of completes the tour, everyone, so...as before, welcome to Avengers Mansion."

"I gotta say, I really like it," Clint remarked. "Makes me not want to get my own place."

"As I said, any one of you is free to take up residence here," Stark replied. "Hulk and/or Banner is, after all."

"I think I just might," Wanda remarked.

"Agreed," her brother added.

"I'm tempted, I'll say," Steve said.

"So, Capsicle," Iron Man said as he turned to the Super Soldier, "anything planned for next?"

"I do actually," he replied, then turned to make sure he was facing the entire team. "Everyone, now that we're a team, I just would like to say that I look forward to working with each and every one of you. I know that there will be challenges up ahead, and they'll be difficult, but I know this: when we work as a unit, as one, as a team, we are a force to be reckoned with. Loki's invasion was a clear example of that. The Avengers are needed in this world, especially now with threats getting more and more dangerous with each day. Together, though, we can make it work. But I also know that to say we're a team is a lot easier than actually being a team. So, I suggest we put this Assembly Hall to good use and have ourselves our first Avengers meeting. It's time we get to know each other and learn to trust each other."

"Which reminds me-at the moment, there are no designated chairs, but I am getting logos done to differentiate and assign our own personal seats here. I'm still working on some for Logan, Thor, Scarlet Witch and Hulk, and others, but I should be done with them by next week," Stark added.

"Well, it seems I'm no longer needed," Pepper spoke up, surprising everyone. Apparently, they had forgotten she was even there. "I'll be headed back to Stark Tower now. And Tony, remember that you have a Board meeting tomorrow at 9; try to show up." And without another word, she went back to the elevator and left.

"I forgot she was even here," Natalia remarked.

"So did I...and I'm dating her," Stark muttered. "Well, anyways…" The Avengers then took seats by at the table; Stark surprised them all as he had even gotten a seat for the Hulk, which actually managed to support his weight thanks to adamantium reinforcement.

"Ok, then," Captain America began, getting everyone's attention. It was clear that both Steve and Tony were the official co-leaders of the team. "As a team, it's important that we trust each other and know that we're all dependable and can be counted on. Each and every one of us here has proven over the course of years that you're just that. Each of you has sacrificed for the greater good, and have gone through extreme hardships, and yet have never abandoned the calling you have been given."

It was at this moment that both Peter and Carol unconsciously twitched their arms, remembering the moments when they actually did abandon the roles of Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel.

"Each of you went above and beyond what was expected when we went up against Loki," Steve continued, not noticing. "For that, I know that you are all worthy to be a part of this team. But just because we managed to succeed in doing it once, doesn't mean we should think it'll always be easy from here on out. We managed a 'spur of the moment' team up, which worked only because we had all spontaneously united for one cause. Most of us haven't worked with each other, and if we have, then in rare instances...unless you're Logan, in which case you somehow know everyone." At that, a few chuckles were released, while Logan simply smirked and relaxed into his chair. "But from here on out, we have to be able to trust in each other, and rely on teamwork. We are Avengers, but without the proper unity of a team, we'll fall apart. So, to start off, I think that to be able to set the foundations of that, we be able to trust each other with our identities and our lives."

"Wait, what?" Peter replied.

"Like, right off the bat?" Jan asked.

"Yes," Steve replied. "If we're going to be able to trust each other, we need to know each other, and to know each other, we need to know our identities. Now, I'm pretty sure that to keep them a secret is something I don't have to explain...well, except for Hulk and Stark and myself...or Thor since he has no identity at all."

"True," the Thunder God agreed. "Donald Blake is very much non-existent now."

"Well, most of us more or less know each other," Stark commented. "The only ones that are kind of in the dark are Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, the only totally secret guy being Spider-Man; at least in my opinion."

"Yeah, that's right," Jess added. "The Pyms and Stark are pretty public with their lives as heroes; everyone knows that King T'Challa is the Black Panther; everyone knows Bruce Banner is the Hulk; Thor is Thor; everyone knows who Captain America is; Logan is a well-known member of the X-Men; and Natalia, Clint, Bobbi and myself are SHIELD agents that most of everyone here has met on at least one occasion."

"But others don't, remember Jessica," Natalia returned. "It'd be best to allow the basics to come out at least. I'll start: My name is Natalia Romanova, a member of SHIELD and the Secret Warriors, and I am a former member of the Russian KGB, and it's obvious I am from Russia, specifically Stalingrad. I'm about 84 years old, and I would suggest not pissing me-"

"Whoa, wait a minute," Peter interrupted. "You're 84 YEARS OLD?!"

"Yes."

"...Wow…" the Web Head whistled.

"But...you look like you're not a day past 25," Wanda added with shock.

"Yeah, that was my reaction, too," Clint smirked. "It's a long story; anyways, I guess I'll go next. Clint Barton's the name, but you all know me as Hawkeye. I'm 30, and I'm committed to this beautiful blonde femme fatale here next to me. Same as Nat, SHIELD agent and Secret Warrior. Hobbies include shooting arrows, sweeping Bobbi off her feet and walking my dog. And...I've always wanted a side kick."

"No," Stark interrupted, memories of squirrels, squirrels and more squirrels flashing in his mind. "Trust me, no you don't."

"Oh, like you would know anything about sidekicks, Mr. Hog the Spotlight."

"Oh, I think you'd be surprised…"

"Well...anyways," Bobbi interjected, her blush from Clint's earlier words now gone. "You all know me as Mockingbird, but my name is Barbara Morse, but I prefer Bobbi. I'm 27, and like Clint said we've been together for almost 3 years now, and I'm also an agent of SHIELD and a Secret Warrior. I'd like to think I'm a nice enough person…so as long as you aren't on the receiving end of my staffs, we should get along fine."

"Well, I guess that just leaves me," Jessica smiled. "Well, I'm Jessica Drew, age 29 and as you can all tell by my gorgeous accent, I'm British and bloody proud of it. I'm currently also a member of SHIELD and their Secret Warriors. Used to be a member of HYDRA due to being a bit brainwashed as an infant, but I broke free of their control when I was 22, about 7 years ago. I'm best friends with Captain Marvel-oh, and now Spider-Man, too….Oh, and I am a very avid fan of football. Not the American kind, I mean."

"Well, that's a start," Cap said before turning to Carol, Wanda, Pietro and Peter. "So, the four of you are the only ones at least some of us know only a bit about."

"Well, there's not much we can say about ourselves," Wanda said. "I'm Wanda Maximoff, and this is my brother Pietro, and we're Magneto's twin children, both 28 years of age. We're former villains who are currently seeking a path of redemption, and we owe that to the X-Men. We've been staying with them in San Francisco for the last year until a month ago, when we came to set up our own lives in New York."

"There's really nothing much else to add besides that," Pietro shrugged.

"That's good for now," Cap said. "Captain Marvel?"

"Right," Carol replied. "Well, to start off, for those of you who don't know, my name is Carol Danvers and I'm 29; and yes, Carol Danvers as in the author...that's me; I used to be a magazine editor and also a columnist for the Daily Bugle. Former USAF pilot and former SHIELD Secret Warrior. Used to be Ms. Marvel, then I was Binary as an X-Man, then I became Captain Marvel about two years ago. I've been in New York for the last 7 years, and I like it here. It's great to be here."

"Wait...YOU were Binary?" Wanda gasped. "Betsy always said you were one of the most powerful members of the X-Men, if not THE most powerful."

"Well, I don't know about that, but-"

"You were," Logan said simply.

"Well, after you were able to handle the Destroyer on your own, I'm sure you'll be one fine addition to the team," Cap said, before turning to Peter. "Now, son, you lead a very secretive life, I have to say; you also are definitely one of the most dedicated heroes I have ever seen. Even with all those insults that the Daily Bugle spits at you, you have never stepped down and you have never run away from a fight. From all the stories and first-hand accounts I've read and heard, I knew that you would definitely be a great help against Loki, and I was right. I am very glad to have you on the Avengers, Spider-Man, and I'm sure the rest are, as well."

"Aye, Spider-Man, I am proud to fight alongside a hero such as yourself," Thor said with a grin and a pumped fist. The other nodded appreciatively, smiled in Logan and Jess' case, and rolled their eyes with a small half smirk in Carol's case.

"Um, well, thanks…" Peter replied sheepishly as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

"You are definitely a trustworthy individual, especially if you keep letting that Peter Parker fellow take shots of you; you're definitely helping him keep a job. _(Here, Logan smirked) _I hope you can reciprocate that trust towards us, being that you're now part of something bigger here."

Peter looked at each and every one of the present heroes he was to now call his teammates…old and new faces. He had seen them all in action at least once, be it TV or live action. They were the best in their field, and were among the most powerful and/or skilled heroes to live. He didn't know many of them personally, pretty much the only one being Logan and, as of recently, Jessica Drew, whom he learned was named. They were all nice enough, and seemed to not want to kill him to shut him up yet, even Captain Marvel, who he had just found out was a famous author he read once in a while. He saw nothing but goodness in these people. At the moment, the only person in the room who knew his identity was Logan, who was sitting right next to him, and that was only because they had known each other since he was 17, when he was dating Kitty Pryde of the X-Men. No one else here knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man.

Something that, despite himself, he wanted to keep as was.

It was a rule and habit drilled into him.

Ever since what happened when an enemy of his found out Peter and Spidey were one and the same…

* * *

_**Flashback Four Years Ago**_

"_OSBORN! Let her go!_

"_Hmmm...Very poor choice of words…" came the maniacal reply. And his grip loosened, and then a blonde began plummeting to her death._

"_PETTTEEEAAAAGGHHH!"_

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

_**Flashback end**_

* * *

"Spider-Man?"

Peter looked back, his mind returned as Captain America brought him back to reality. He saw that everyone else was looking at him expectantly, waiting to see just who the heart of New York City really was. Logan, meanwhile, was looking at the young man next in ever so slight concern. Despite how badly he had wanted to gut the kid the moment he met him and heard him speak nonstop for hours, he had grown quite close to Peter, and developed a near brotherly relationship with him. As such, he had helped Peter through a lot of crap in his life, including what he was sure was going through his mind at the moment. Logan was the one who kept Peter from committing suicide after Gwen Stacy died. He knew that Peter wouldn't be the same again since then, and since that night, the kid had developed major issues with allowing people to know who Spider-Man really was. The incident had definitely scarred him in a few ways. And Logan knew that that was going to affect what the words that could come out of Peter's mouth were going to be.

"I...I can't."

Yep, Logan was right.

"What?" Captain America replied, not really sure he heard what Spider-Man just said. He wasn't the only one; all the other Avengers present, minus Wolverine, looked back in either surprise or shock.

"I said...I can't; I'm sorry, I'm not willing to give up my identity...at least not yet," Spider-Man said in clarification.

"...Why not?" Stark asked, surprised at the hero's response.

"Personal reasons," the Web Head replied, the images of that night on the George Washington Bridge vividly replaying in his mind. "The last time someone found out my identity, someone very close to me was hurt. Since then, I have not allowed anyone to know who I am, and I'm sorry, but I'm not changing that anytime soon."

Stark and Steve blinked. The first major obstacle just popped out.

"Ok so let me get this straight," Natalia said with a look of agitation on her face. "Because of something that happened...however long ago, you're not willing to entrust us with your identity or any aspects of your personal life because of the unlikely possibility that we'll either betray you or give up that information to an enemy of yours?"

"A bit of an exaggeration...but yeah."

"So then how are we supposed to be able to trust you if you can't even trust us?!" Pietro exclaimed.

"I said I didn't trust you with my identity! I can definitely trust you guys to have my back in a fight or something-!"

"Spider-Man, I must admit, the Black Widow and Quicksilver have a valid point," T'Challa interrupted, albeit with a patient tone. He didn't understand exactly why the arachnid would act this way, but he did want to understand a bit more. "The foundations of trust for a team begin at being able to entrust your personal information to fellow teammates. It's not like we have someone who can vouch for you."

"Actually, we do," Logan said. "Out of everyone here, I've known Webs here the longest, and I know him best. I've worked with him, and I can guarantee you now that he is one of the best out there, and this team would definitely be lucky to have him. There ain' anyone like this guy, trust me. And I can tell you now that I know where he's comin' from."

"I guess I can understand, as well," Wanda replied, a look of sympathy on her face. "I don't think I have had the same experiences as you have, Spider-Man, but I do feel that I can understand where you come from."

"Ok, so...are you still going to be on the Avengers?" Jessica asked.

"I'm willing to, but withholding my identity is my condition," Peter replied, before turning to Steve and Tony. "It's up to you guys."

"I would say we allow Spider-Man to remain an Avenger," Thor offered. "Even if he does not wish to surrender the identity of the man behind the mask, he has a noble heart and a will that I have rarely seen, even in Asgard. I do not believe we should prevent a hero of his capabilities to join simply because of one request. I would have no issues of trust against him."

"That's you, Thor," Carol replied, a look of frustration and agitation on her face as well. "But I actually have an issue with trusting someone I don't know anything about. Trust is a two way street and it has to be earned. How am I supposed to trust him if he doesn't trust us?!"

"I agree," Natalia and Pietro agreed simultaneously.

"Look, yeah, he has an issue with trust," Hawkeye butted in, "but is that really reason enough to just not let him join? Look at the four of us-we started off as complete strangers, and now look: Bobbi and I are in a loving relationship, Jessica makes us watch Doctor Who reruns together every other Friday night (which you have addicted me to, by the way), and Natalia actually likes us."

"Yeah, he's right," Bobbi added. "Even you, Carol; even after you lost your trust and faith in us because of the Marcus Incident, you eventually were able to trust us again. And you were still able to trust Jessica and Simon."

"Ok, first off, don't mention either Marcus or Simon to me," Carol replied with a hand on her forehead. "Second of all, even with that, it took time to repair that trust; and anyways that has nothing to do with this-this guy won't even trust us at all from the get go!"

"Danvers, I think you of all people would understand the issues of trust," Logan remarked, an arched eyebrow on his face.

"Eh, I don't care," the Hulk gave for his opinion.

"Of course you don't," Clint sighed.

"Ok...um, are you guys going to make the decision?" Peter spoke up.

"Stark, what do you think?" the super soldier asked the Armored Avenger.

"Honestly...I don't know," came the reply. "In all seriousness, I thought the biggest obstacle was going to be fitting everyone's schedule around this. I can see it both ways-yes, the issue of trust is a big component of being a team, and the fact that you're unwilling to trust us with just your name and some personal information definitely puts a damper on the purpose of this team. But...I can also see where you're coming from, myself, thanks to Obadiah Stane…and Logan is right, you are an asset to this team that I don't want to give up, and you have definitely proven yourself to be a very trustworthy individual. Do you have anything to say, Spider-Man?"

"Well," Peter began, "for starters, I understand how frustrated and annoyed some of you may be right now because of my unwillingness to give you guys my name and a few details of my life. Trust me, I would be kind of annoyed too. I want you all to understand that I don't want to not trust you...It's just how I am. If you'd known me four years ago to now, you'd understand; but you haven't, so you won't. I know I'm probably asking a lot from you, but I want you to know that you can trust me with your identities and your personal lives. I'd rather die that let them be exposed, and before I'd betray you all to someone else. Yeah, it sounds very contradicting-"

"Yes, it does," Pietro interjected.

"Look, my point is, you can trust me," Peter finished.

"Like I said, trust is a two way street, Spider-Man," Carol replied.

"You don't like me anyways, so trust between us two really isn't my aim right now," he countered, gaining a look of shock and anger.

"It is if I have to work with you!"

"So then do you trust me?!"

"Of course not! How am I supposed to trust in someone who won't trust in me with their name of all things!?"

"You were the one who said trust was a two way street!"

"And you're not really helping with that at all! Why the hell won't you bother to trust us?!"

"I told you, personal issues!"

"Really, that's the best you got?! 'Personal issues?!' Is that really the best excuse you have?!"

"I'm going to warn you right now: you are seriously crossing a very dangerous line…!"

"Really?! Because you and serious don't seem to mix! You take everything as a joke-!"

"If you dealt with half the crap I've dealt with, you would see why!"

"Oh you want to talk life experiences now?! You have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to life experiences!"

"Oh and I suppose you're the expert?!"

"You don't know half the shit I've been through!

"Oh yeah?! Try me-I'm pretty sure that's-!"

"BOTH OF YOU, ENOUGH!"

Spider-Man and Captain Marvel turned to Captain America the moment his authoritative and commanding voice rang out. The WWII veteran stared at them both, a look of fury on his face. "Both of you need to calm down, and stop arguing. That is not very becoming of teammates. Spider-Man, Carol is right, trust is a two way street; and you, Carol, you escalating things is not helping at all. Both of you need to realize that you are going to be working together on this team, and that requires trust on your part-trust that you'll have each other's back, and trust that your partner is there for you. We already have enough problems with Thor and Hulk looking to throw down every 10 minutes, and I do not need it from you either. Both of you, stand down."

Needless to say, everyone else in the room was looking on at the spectacle in shock; both Peter and Carol were currently standing and facing each other with aggressive body language, and that was saying something, being that Spider-Man didn't seem to be that type; his black costume added the effect very nicely, though.

Both Avengers glared at each other one last time before sitting down again.

"I still find the issue of trust a problem," Carol said in hidden agitation.

"...Anyways…" Stark interjected, trying to take charge of the situation, "the issue with Spider-Man not trusting us with his identity can wait for another time; I personally think at the moment that's not important. Now, there is something we need to get out of the way right now: availability of members. The majority of us have our own responsibilities outside of being a superhero, plus being on another team already. I've come up with a solution to that, of sorts. Now, the Assembly Hall also serves as a control system room, keeping track of events all across the globe. I've come up with a Monitor Duty system, where two Avengers will be here at the Mansion at all times to be ready and on call for any threats. Now, since Hulk and apparently another number of you will be taking up permanent residence here at the Mansion, that kind of helps the selection. The other part of this solution is other Avengers being readily available to respond to calls at a moment's notice. So, I've managed to come up with a system of shifts of what times which Avengers are here in the Mansion, for those of us not staying here as residents."

"How is this going to adjust to those of us who can end up being undercover for months at a time?" Jess asked, concerned about how it fit with her work as a SHIELD agent and a Secret Warrior.

"That...is something you'll have to figure out on your own," Tony replied.

"Well, I have made it clear that I will not always be available to answer the call as an Avenger if I am located on Asgard," Thor pointed out. "And I very much doubt that these ID cards would work in any of the other Nine Realms of the Cosmos."

"I figured on that, and so I planned accordingly; you and Hulk are the most powerful members of this team, followed by Captain Marvel, then myself, then tied between Wanda, Logan and maybe Spider-Man, after what I saw with the Empire State Building. But I've organized a structure so that at any time, hopefully either you or the Hulk will be readily available to respond with threats of your strength level calibers."

"I think I'd be readily available at any time," Hulk mused. "It's not like Banner or I go out anywhere."

"I may not," Logan pointed out. "I'm a teacher, and I run X-Force and work with the X-Men, both which have their own missions at times; it'll be possible I'm in the middle of somethin' and I won' be able to respond to an Avengers call."

"Same here," Pym offered, to which Jan sighed but nodded.

"I have an issue as well, namely running a whole kingdom," Panther mused. "Although, I have been thinking of alternatives...I must confer with my councils, of course; nothing is affirmative, yet, and as such, I will not be readily available at any moment until then. Wakanda comes first."

"And don't you have an entire business to run, Tony?" Steve asked. "Along with your own Rogues Gallery to deal with?"

"It seems we ALL have issues in our own lives that hinder our abilities to work fully as Avengers," Pietro remarked.

Silence for a minute rang out.

"This worked out a lot better in my head…" Stark said, sighing and running his head through his hair as he set his helmet on the Conference table.

* * *

_**XXXXX**_

_**TO BE CONTINUED…**_

* * *

_**Note: The Quinjets in this story are based off the style from Avengers: EMH**_


	11. Teamwork for Dummies! Part 3

_**HELLO EVERYONE! Welcome back to the story, or rather, thanks for sticking around after all this time. I have to tell you, college is a-back to the point! Last chapter, we saw just how much of a task keeping the team dynamic was going to be for the Avengers, and hopefully this chapter showcases that even more. I tried putting in a more political aspect to it all, and hopefully it came out ok. Now remember, readers: keep eyes out for any of those Easter eggs and such found across the chapters, including this one. Hope you guys enjoy it and remember to leave a review!**_

_**Now, these are some of the confirmed arcs that I am definitely going to do for Earth's Mightiest Heroes, not in this order.**_

_**"Natalia": based off the movie "Lucy"**_

_**"World War Kang"**_

_**"The Ballad of Beta Ray Bill"**_

_**"Secure, Contain &amp; Protect": based off the Creepypasta**_

_**"Masters of Evil"**_

_**"Acts of Vengeance"**_

_**"The Kree/Skrull War"**_

_**"Nothing is Wonderful": introducing Wonder Man, more of Carol's past &amp; the setup for Peter &amp; Carol getting together.**_

_**"The Dark World of Ancient Winters": based off Thor: The Dark World &amp; the Avengers EMH episode "Casket of Ancient Winters."**_

_**"Gamma Rage," the introduction of Abomination **_

_**"Code Red"**_

_**"Days of Future Past": a loose adaptation of the movie**_

_**"Winter Soldier ": based off the movie**_

_**And my pet project: "Live Kree or Die Hard." It's not the same as the EMH episode, but it does begin the basis of the massive expansion of roster the team will gain.**_

* * *

_**Disclaimer: *Insert here***_

* * *

Chapter 11: Teamwork for Dummies, Part 3

* * *

***Midtown, Manhattan***

**7:01 PM EST June 16, 2012**

Night in Manhattan was a time where the citizens could go out and enjoy just about anything.

Tourists enjoyed the sights of the city in the glory of night. Couples and families ate out at great restaurants. The roads were packed and so were the sidewalks. All across the island, lights gave live all night long to the Big Apple. Of course, there were dark parts, too. And there were those who use the night for their operations of villainy and crime. People would fall victim while enjoying the city in its nightly splendor. However, with the watchful eyes of vigilantes and heroes across Manhattan, those would-be thugs and criminals would hesitate before attempting anything of that nature. Overall, Manhattan was a center of commercial and local activity that never rested, protected by the actions many heroes, both in and out of costume.

There would always still be those who would brave such conditions and still carry out their activities. These were brave, stupid or insane enough to try and challenge the city's protectors with their criminal actions.

This was the case for a group of men, walking along one of the less lit streets in Midtown. They each appeared like the typical thugs seen in Manhattan: averagely built men wearing worn clothes and jackets, each with some kind of small weapon on them. However, what they were planning this night was anything but average. Each of these men were under the employment of L. Thompson Lincoln, a city philanthropist and millionaire who secretly (to most of the city) ran a powerful criminal empire by the fear-inducing name of "Tombstone." And tonight, orders had come down the chain of command to them. A robbery and take-over of a bank that had crossed the criminal mogul; they were to show the bank just how wrong they were in getting on the wrong side of the "Tombstone."

The group, led by a bald man with a cigarette in his lips, arrived at a building, specifically its freight area. The building was a deli-restaurant by appearance, but was secretly one of the many fronts of Tombstone across the city. Its activities included gambling, bootlegging, loansharking and prostitution. As of thirty minutes ago, a truck under the guise of a food supply truck had arrived, waiting to remove its cargo. What was held inside, though, was anything but food.

The group entered the freight area, the guards letting them pass without any concern. They came up to the truck's attendants, three muscular men who had just recently been broken out of prison upstate to help procure these…goods. The gang leader approached them without any greeting, simply going right to business.

"Alrighty, boys, you got the goods?"

"Straight from the Big Man himself, Mac," one of the truck men replied as he opened the compartment door. Inside the truck were four metal crates; one of the truckers procured a crowbar and pried one open. Inside, to the glee of the leader named Mac, were a collection of military-grade weaponry, guns and ammunition that would put the best armed SWAT units of the NYPD to shame.

"Boy, do I love it when Christmas comes early," Mac smirked.

* * *

***Stark Tower***

**7:41 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"Well," Steve said as he took a sip of water, "that went... better than I expected it would end up, I guess."

"Oh, yeah," Stark muttered as he sipped some Scotch. "Seriously, I thought running Stark Industries was bad enough. Making this team thing work is even worse...why are people so complicated, dammit?" The billionaire set his glass down and picked up the file he had on his desk that summed up his plans for the Avengers Mansion construction, opening it to take out a photo that had been taken on the day of the debut of the Avengers. It was of the entire team on the steps of Stark Tower, posing for the cameras as they announced themselves to the world. "Seriously, what happened to THESE guys?" he asked, referring to the unity that the team seemed to have in the photo.

It was a few hours after the Avengers had ended their very first team meeting, and it sure had proved to be quite a rocky one. Already, there proved to be some friction between Hulk and Thor, and even more so between Captain Marvel and Spider-Man. And though that was an extremely major issue, it certainly wasn't the only large obstacle in their path. Until Panther figured out whatever he said he had planned to handle his absences from Wakanda, he was not fully able to be an Avenger fully on call. The same was now true for Logan, but that was normal for him at least.

There was also the issue of five members of the team being fully deputized members of SHIELD, which would conflict with this as well. Oh, and there was the fact that Spider-Man was unwilling to surrender his identity to the rest of the team; that was something that had automatically set a fatality into forming trust within the Avengers ranks. Though a few were fine with his decision-namely Thor, Hulk, Wanda and Tony himself-others found that a major issue: Black Widow, Pietro, Steve and especially Captain Marvel.

Oh, and then there was the 214th phone call from Senator Robert Kelly (yes, Tony was actually keeping track now...) that had ended up the same as the other 213 before it: Kelly insisting that adding three mutants to the team was a mistake and Tony yelling at him to screw himself and give it up with the mutant hysteria.

He would make sure to fund any candidates running against Kelly in his next reelection campaign...

"It's still in the early stages of things, Tony," Steve sighed as he walked to the large glass paneled windows. They both were currently in Tony's corporate office in the Tower, awaiting their visitor to arrive as he said he would. "It's always at the beginning that things are always the most difficult to accomplish. We'll get through it, though. I have faith in this team."

"I have faith in them too, don't get me wrong, old man," Stark said as he turned his chair around to join Cap in the night gazing. "It's just that these issues are so...ugh, I don't even know."

"We'll just tackle the hardest ones to deal with first, and then we go from there," Steve answered. "In my opinion, the biggest issues we have are the trust problems and the issue with Spider Man not wanting to relinquish his identity. Natalia and Carol are right, trusting him when he can't grant us that equal trust with his own name makes the team dynamic hard to form."

"Honestly, I don't see the problem with that," Stark replied. "Look at your fellow SHIELD Agents and what they do for a living. Seriously, I'm surprised no one brought up the fact that SHIELD has five pairs of eyes and ears spying in on the team...no offense to you."

"None taken, but I guess you make a fair point. We each have many aspects of our lives that we aren't keen on sharing anytime soon. But we are still giving up the basics, while Spider Man isn't. If something happens to him, how are we going to alert his next of kin? Yes, he has 11 years of experience on the streets, but still…"

"Look, we managed to do perfectly fine when Loki was trying to take over the world. We all knew more or less who each other was until Spider Man showed up, and even then we all worked fine as a team. If we could do it then, why not up until he's ready to trust us with that information?"

"Tony, we were in the middle of a war then. That was different; we had to trust each other no matter what that day. Now we have a firm establishment as a team, and to operate as a good team, we need to have the assurance that each member can trust the others explicitly. That is how a team works, no other way."

"Well, we aren't going to be getting anything done about that between us," Stark sighed as he sipped some more Scotch. "But we have to deal with the inner team friction...which brings us back to Spider-Man..."

"Yes, he and Carol really need to back off from each other, though it isn't helping that they keep instigating each other, and she also really doesn't like him."

"Yeah, you'd think she would at least try to be nice to the guy who saved her life..."

"She's brought up in a military mind, and he's laid back, so of course they're bound to clash," Steve chuckled, before frowning again. "But it's something that needs to be addressed soon. Also, the fact of Thor and Hulk..."

"Did you get the feeling it wasn't as serious as it seemed in retrospect?" Stark asked with a thoughtful expression.

"A bit, yeah," Steve agreed. "They seemed ready to beat each other into next week. But then again, something about their body language also...still, we have to address that. The last thing we need is those two getting into a brawl."

"There's something else...I guess..."

"What is it?"

"It's something that T'Challa said when everyone agreed to be a member of this. He said that he would join the Avengers to protect Wakanda from outside threats...and...I don't know, the way he said it, it seemed like he was planning to use the Avengers for his own purposes...or something like that..."

"That doesn't sound like T'Challa," Steve said. "If anything, the man is as honorable as the man I battled alongside with in World War ll."

"Yeah, but this isn't his grandfather, Steve, this is him. I don't know, maybe I'm just overthinking things, but...something about the way he said it, though..."

"I'm sure it's nothing," the Super Soldier offered. "But, what isn't nothing is how some people are reacting about two former members of the Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy being a part of the Avengers...something that I heard the World Security Council is very concerned about. Logan and T'Challa vouch for them, but I don't think it's enough..."

"Ugh, don't get me started on Kelly and half the Senate...Not to mention the fact of how Magneto's going to react now that he knows that Wanda &amp; Pietro are really fighting against him now," Tony agreed. Something then struck the billionaire's thoughts. "Steve, Fury wouldn't try to use the Avengers for SHIELD business, would he?"

"Why would he?" Steve shrugged. "He had his own superhuman combat team in the Warriors."

"We have a Hulk and a god and a half alien hybrid and three very powerful mutants."

"...that is also a fair point."

"Look, Steve, I'm not trying to point fingers or anything, but Fury has to have realized by now that having you, Hawkeye, Mockingbird and the other two in the Avengers can really benefit him. Sure, he has some morals, but he also has no problem using people, after all. He might use that as leverage."

"I think that's something that we have to discuss with Fury himself," Cap said seriously as he sat on Stark's large desk and poured himself some Scotch. Speaking of the devil, a voice came up on the intercom in front of Stark, it being one of Stark Tower's many receptionists on the lobby levels.

"Mr. Stark, Director Nick Fury is here to see you."

"Thank you, Miss Stone," Tony replied. "Happy is down there now; have him escort the Director to the private elevator bank. He'll know what to do from there." He then turned to his fellow Avenger and sighed. "Let's get this over with, then."

* * *

***Carol Danvers' Apartment, Upper West Side, Manhattan***

**7:54 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"Carol...love, you've been on that damn laptop since we got back," Jess sighed from her sprawled position on the couch as she flipped through the channels on Carol's TV.

"Well, I kind of have a deadline to meet, Jess," the former SHIELD agent replied back as she continued to type rapidly. "Besides, I need to get these ideas down before I forget them, and I went through hell to get the inspiration for these chapters."

"Isn't the deadline in a month?" the British Avenger asked as she turned to where her best friend was sitting at a desk on the other side of a room. Carol, along with Jess, was draped in comfortable shorts and shirts...although Jess' hair was much more kempt compared to Carol's, which was wild and messy from their earlier hour long use of the gym in Avengers Mansion. "And aren't you almost finished with it anyways?"

"What's your point, Jess?" the blonde replied dismissively as she glanced at the notebook beside her laptop, reading the notes on it before returning to her typing.

"Wow...no wonder you're still single..." Jess muttered, finally finding a channel that grabbed her attention by having a Doctor Who marathon on, and she was just in time for the first episode. It took her a bit to realize she couldn't hear Carol typing anymore and turned to see what happened, only to receive a deadpanned glare from her best friend. Jessica knew what this was about, shrugged with a roll of her eyes and asked, "Well, am I wrong?"

"I am not dealing with this again..." Carol muttered as she returned to her nearly complete novel. Jess smirked and giggled before returning to her Doctor Who. Carol rolled her eyes, not wanting to deal with this again. She was blessed with almost ten seconds of silence from the British woman before...

"So, you really think this Avengers thing is going to work out?" Jess asked, making Carol sigh. Realizing that as long as Jessica was still talking (which she would be doing a lot of tonight since she was staying the night) she wouldn't let her finish the rest of her work, the blonde decided to just indulge her. Maybe she could use a break after all...she did still have a month. Closing her laptop she joined her best friend on the couch, who smiled at her victory and asked again, "Well?"

Carol shrugged. "I think it will. Why not, I mean? We managed to pull it off when Thor's brother was trying to take over the world." She smiled a bit, something Jessica quickly noticed.

"Admit it, you love being a part of a team again, right?"

"I never said I never liked being part of a team!"

"Well, you only lasted a few months with Xavier before quitting. And you never tried to rejoin SHIELD, and you stayed solo, so you didn't want to be a part of a team for years now. You missed it, right?"

"Well, yeah-"

"So you love being a part of one again!"

"Ok, fine," Carol sighed in exasperation, though she couldn't help but grin. "It does feel good to be back on a team again."

"See? Besides, this'll be great for you, to get back into the swing of things and the like," Jess smiled. She then got a mischievous smirk on her face. "Who knows, you may even find your real Mr. Perfect on this team! Hey, why not Spi-!"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Carol threatened as she quickly pointed a glowing hand at her.

Jess, however, was unfazed. "...Spiiiider-Man?"

"God, he is rubbing off on you..." Carol muttered as she rubbed her temples. "God, I hate that jerk."

"He probably hates you, too," Jess offered with a shrug. "I mean, you didn't exactly make things better back there."

"Well, he started it."

"Really...that's your big defense?"

"Shut up...seriously, how does he expect to gain our trust if he doesn't even give us his?"

"I would think you would at least try to like the guy who saved your life."

"Do not remind me of that," Carol muttered. "That was the beginning of the end of my life...God, he doesn't shut up..." Flashbacks of him and Logan, Wanda and Thor in conversation back in the Mansion after the meeting, and again from during Loki's invasion, came back to mind. "How he's lasted this long out there, I have no idea."

"Well, he seems to be pretty good; after all, most of Rykers Island and the Raft are filled because of him."

"Well, I don't think he should be on the team," Carol muttered again. "Not unless we know at least something about him." She turned to Jessica, only to see that...look on her face.

"Well, let's dig him up then," the British Avenger grinned as she took out her own SHIELD sanctioned laptop from her night duffel bag. Opening it, she added, "Fury had files on every known superhuman on the planet, right? Well he has to have something on Spider Man, too, right?"

"Sure...?" Carol said hesitantly.

"Plus, the word is that Fury's taken a special interest in the Webhead since she showed up on the scene. So there's bound to be something in the Spider Man files, right?"

"Hmm, sure, should sound like it," Carol shrugged. "Alright, let's see what we find." With that, the British Avenger began logging into the SHIELD network, going through her usual clearance levels and such before arriving in the SHIELD database network that held

A ding turned their attention back to the screen. Jessica had done a search for SHIELD's files on Spider-Man. There came up a few results including the various prisoners currently found on the Raft thanks to the arachnid, to files of the supervillains that had been spawned from him (as the rumors went on), and a restricted file encryption about what both heroines recognized as the second attempt at Project: S.T.A.R.S., reactivated and then shut down by Nick Fury. Finally, they found what they were looking for: a SHIELD file on the arachnid himself. Upon opening it, however…

"Huh…this…this isn't a lot."

"There's barely anything on this," Carol mused; the SHIELD file on the Amazing Spider-Man simply had the basic information on Spider-Man such as power set &amp; abilities, years of activity, affiliations, and the like. Information that other files had regarding other superhumans and marked subjects (namely…a name and other personal descriptions that SHIELD would somehow always find) was almost non-existent. "I know I've been out of SHIELD for a few years, Jess, but I thought things would always be advancing…not losing quality. SHIELD has data on almost every known superhuman and mutant…why not nothing on Spider-Man?"

"If I could answer that, I wouldn't be doing this, Carol," Jess replied. "Trust me, this makes less sense to me than you. Hmm…let's see what my hacking skills can do."

"I guess Fury doesn't have that big of an interest in him," the blonde shrugged.

"Don't be so sure, love; I just traced all searches of the SHIELD file within the last month, and it appears Fury has been visiting quite often. If I just do this right…yes, I managed to travel into the IP address and hack into Fury's personal files and computer…now, let's start searching for anything on Spidey…"

"I'm sorry…what?! You're HACKING into NICK FURY'S computer?! Jessica Drew, what the f-?!"

"Hmmm...an encrypted file...whoa...none of the other files I've hacked before are encrypted like this one." Without another word, she began an encryption and hacking sequence, bypassing the security and cracking open the files within only a few minutes.

Carol was quite surprised, both by the fact that she had found something and by her hacking skills. "When did you learn to do that?"

"I have my secrets," Jessica teased with a smirk as she scrolled through the various files.

"Sitwell?"

"Maybe."

"Wait, so Fury does have a special interest in Spider Man?" Carol wondered. "Why would he?"

"Who knows?" Jess shrugged. "Let's just get it opened and see what we can find out about him." She began her hacking into the encryption, slowly chipping away at the cyber defenses. "Wonder what makes him not want to tell us who he is...Why would he be like that?"

"Jess, focus, we can worry about how his brain works another time." Carol paused. "Whatever this file is, it has to have information and data on Spider-Man, right?" Jess nodded. "That includes names. So, his name should be on the file. Maybe even something about why he's...wait, what are we doing, Jess?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why are we trying to dig up dirt, in Nick Fury's personal network no less, about Spider Man? I mean, yeah I hate him, but still, this feels a bit wrong."

"And that is how you know we're on the right track," Jess smirked before turning back to her laptop. "Trust me, finding out some dirt on Spider Man will be-what? Wait….no no no! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?!" she added with a yell as a horde of viruses suddenly infected her laptop, forcing her out of Fury's networks, and forcing the SHIELD network to force her out of the system due to protocol being activated. It instantly shut down and her laptop deactivated...but not before a window opened up on her screen with **ACCESS DENIED, HAHAHA! **flashing in large red letters.

"Um...what just happened?" Carol asked with an arched eyebrow.

"My...I was trying to decrypt the files and then my laptop suddenly gets infected with viruses…" Jess managed to whimper as she stared at her screen with utter shock. "But...how? My security on this thing is top notch! There's no way it could've-!" She was interrupted as her cell phone suddenly rang, surprising and shocking and them both. Jess quickly grabbed it and answered, seeing that it was Fury, making both Avengers nervous. "Yes, Fury?"

"That was just a warning, Agent Drew," Fury's voice said from the phone, and both women looked at each other in alarm. "Both of you, you and Danvers, next time you try snooping in files you're not supposed to be snooping in, it'll be a lot worse." With that, Fury hung up and the two Avengers were left to look at each other with looks of concern.

* * *

***Assembly Hall, United Nations Building, that moment***

**8:00 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"I do not care what the concerns of the Council are at this moment," T'Challa said as he walked with his aide and the UN Wakandan Representatives into the large assembly hall of the United Nations building. "I want them ready to meet when I return to Wakanda in two days' time. This is a matter of great concern."

"Very well, your Majesty," his aide responded as he tried to keep up with the hurried pace of the Wakandan monarch. "But sire, the Shaman himself has voiced his concern. Is this not something you should at least discuss with your courts first, or think through with a clear conscious?"

"No," the reply came as he took his seat at the Wakandan bench. "If I am to ensure Wakanda's safety from the threats that are unknown to us, then I must do so without any hindrance. So, ensure that the Royal Council is assembled for my return."

"Yes, Sire."

"Very well. Now, how is our counter intelligence division doing with the tasks I set for them?"

"While some of the targets have very little information that we can find on them, the majority of the targets' data and information have been collected, and continue to be collected as we speak. Assessment and threat level estimates continue to update. All continues as planned in that department. You should have a full report by the Wakandan Intelligence director chief in two days' time," the aide responded.

"That's good," T'Challa replied with a nod as he focused on the assembly of world leaders and representatives from almost all nations on the globe. Perhaps what he was doing was a betrayal of given trust, but as King of Wakanda and the one responsible for the protection of his people and nation, it was a necessary evil that he had to go along with. He had to be prepared to react for any possible situation that could result from the recent events. It was just a precaution that he had to take for the greater good of Wakanda; that was it. He squashed that small voice of conscience in his mind and focused on the purpose of the meeting of world leaders. At the front of the hall sat the United Nations World Security Council. He had to focus now; he had a cause to defend.

"Good evening, member nations of the Assembly," the WSC French representative began, starting the assembly. "We thank you for arriving here tonight. I feel that it is better to get straight to the point, _non_? So, the major point we must address in this assembly is something that is of great concern and should be addressed in regards to the whole of global relations: the Avengers."

* * *

***Stark Tower***

**8:00 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"Drew and her shenanigans…" Nick Fury muttered as he rode the Stark Tower private elevator to Stark's CEO office floor. There was a reason he had an encrypted Spider-Man file on his own networks, with only himself and Agent Coulson allowed access to them. Hill had wondered about that and voiced her concern, but Fury had assured her (for now, he thought) that it was just a project he was working on. Deactivating that comm channel, he opened up another channel to Coulson, who had headed up to the Peak due to something Brand's deep search teams had found just outside Jupiter's atmosphere.

"Coulson here," the senior agent answered.

"Coulson," Fury responded. "What's the verdict?"

"It's his, Boss," came the reply. "These vessel remains definitely match the _SS Guardian_. This was definitely Agent Quill's vessel. Nothing yet on locating Quill's body though, but we have found the remains of some of the other crew members. Nasty stuff here, Boss."

"Damn…" Fury muttered. "Estimated time it was there?"

"Brand's people are thinking about two years, minimum. The hull damage matches the ballistics of artillery weapons by either two of the known extraterrestrial races: Spartax or one of the newer ones, the Ravagers nomads. Also, we think the black box on the pilot deck could have something useful, anything pertaining to what looks like some kind of ambush here."

"Spartax...that could mean something due to his heritage...alright, tell Brand that she should try and use the deep space satellites to see if she can pick up any chatter about a human being held prisoner or something. Also tell her that I want whatever she finds on that black box to be sent to SHIELD techs ASAP. Peter Quill was one of the best agents we had, and I want to make sure we can bring him home if we can."

"I'll pass the word, Boss." There was a few seconds pause before Coulson added, "The Deep Search teams just brought the vessel remains to hangars. Brand's guy, Noh-Varr, is handling analysis. I'll get back to you first chance. Also, Woo needs to talk to you about the SCP Division."

"Got it, I'll get back to him. Keep me posted," Fury said before cutting the connection. At that exact moment, the elevator arrived at its destination. The SHIELD Director exited and arrived in Stark's personal corporate office, with both Stark and Steve sitting at the desk by the window. "Gentlemen," he greeted as he walked over to them, "thank you for having this meeting with me. It's good to see you again, Stark."

"Cut to the chase, Fury," Tony sighed as he straightened himself up in his chair, Cap sitting at the side of the desk. "Steve said you wanted to talk to us about the Avengers, so get to the point. What exactly is it that you want to talk about?"

Fury looked at the two for a second, before his eyes fell upon the files of the Avengers Mansion and the photo of the team lying on Stark's desk. "People are talking," he said as he looked at them again. "I doubt I have to tell you that, because that's what people do…talk. But there is quite a lot of talking about the Avengers in the World Security Council, and within the UN Assembly. You know that right now a summit is happening about what the world's reaction and the reactions of many nations in regards to your team up is, and what the response is going to be like?"

"We do, actually," Steve responded. "T'Challa had told us about it after our team meeting earlier today. He's attending it right now with the Wakandan representatives."

"Ok then, so you should probably be aware of how much you're going to hear," Fury continued. "Stark, Rogers...the world is nervous for good reason about this. You have some of the most powerful beings that walk the face of the planet on the Avengers. Couple that with the proclamation you made a few weeks back about ensuring that the world was not going to become someone's personal playground, you just made a lot of people across the globe angry and nervous."

"Like who, the terrorists and dictators in the Middle East and Asia?" Stark asked. "We said that in regards to the threats like Doom and Magneto and such. The Avengers would provide some kind of disaster relief and help with recovery if necessary or if we're asked for assistance, yeah, but we aren't getting involved with that kind of stuff. There's a reason we answer to no government, after all."

"That's the problem: you won't consider it...yet. People don't know what to expect from the Avengers, and are worried about your agendas. And then there's that problem: not answering to any form of government. We know it's no secret that the majority of the Avengers are of American citizenship, and a lot of governments have issues with American interference as it is. Add to that the concern of the American government trying to get you under their wings-"

"I already have enough issues with that with Kelly," Stark grumbled.

"He's a jackass is most aspects," Fury agreed, "but he is right about one thing: you have two former Brotherhood members as founding Avengers, and that's already caused a bunch of uproar in the UN. There's also the fact that you have the Hulk as a member of the team. Ross is furious right now, and I have to constantly deal with him, like this is my problem or something...by the way, expect a call or seven from him about that. You have superhumans that are viewed by much of the world, especially by the American public, as questionable. The Council is very concerned about you all turning the world into your own little police beat; going into places and countries that could spark international incidents-North Korea, Latveria, Iran, Russia, even Wakanda. And what the hell is going to happen if you end up in some kind of problems with Atlantis? I got enough on my plate with Namor as it is."

"Namor is an issue I can handle myself," Steve said. "Hell, I'll even arrange a meeting with him about what possibilities the Avengers may face that may include Atlantis."

"There's something I don't get with this," Stark frowned. "Why us? Why is all of this concern and beef just about and focused on us? Excalibur, the X-Men, Alpha Flight, and hell, not even your little secret spy club seems to get any heat about this kind of thing."

"That's because you never hear about it," Fury replied. "You were just a weapons contractor we hired; of course you never heard anything. But there is always something in regards to the superhuman and mutant population of the world. You know that I have almost no problems with the superheroes, but in official terms, SHIELD and the Council just barely tolerate superhumans, period. Don't even get me started on the mutants. Excalibur and Alpha Flight have pledged to work alongside their respective governments if necessary, but what if the UK or Canada decided to turn them into their own private super armies? The X-Men have caused uproars across the entire globe in regards to mutant rights, and no matter where they go, something happens to either further or hinder their acceptance, Genosha being a prime example. As for the Warriors, the world doesn't know the team even exists, but the Council has definitely made their concerns about them known on many occasions, even during the invasion last month. I am not denying all the work your kind do-hell, they make my job that much easier. But like I said, people talk."

"...and since this gathering of us, the Avengers coming together after Loki's invasion, all these issues have come up again?" Steve asked. "Fury, we're trying to help people."

"But there are people who don't see it that way," Fury countered. "Hell, three Council members are complaining that the addition of six new supervillains is actually your fault."

"Wow..." Stark muttered.

"Both of you, you need to figure out a way to keep these people and issues at bay, set their fears to rest. Entire nations are concerned, and a large number of governments are, too. Remember, you entered a world full of worldwide politics when you formed the Avengers and made the goals you made. And I want to clarify something." Fury became extremely more serious. "If you are going to say that you don't answer to any government, then act like it. If local or governmental forces ask for your help, then that's no problem, but I don't want to find out the Avengers are becoming America's Team Bitch. And if I find or see something, anything, that I feel isn't right, I will not hesitate to decide that there will be no more Avengers, and that's a decision I don't need to turn to you for at all."

"Understood, sir," Steve agreed as Stark nodded his affirmation.

"Good," Fury said as he also nodded his head. "I would also like to say that if you ever need help or anything, SHIELD is at your service. I'll have your back. I'd also like to know that if we're ever in a situation, that if I think I need some big shot help, then I can count on your team for it."

Steve nodded his head, but Stark actually chose to say something in response to that. "Ok Fury, if the Avengers can help you out, then we will, but let me make something clear. We are not your personal cleanup crew. Five of your best people may be integrated members of this team, but that does not give you any means to try to use us or exploit their membership as you see fit. If you're going to have the Avengers help you out, it's not to be in covering up your messes or secrets," the billionaire said as he stood from his chair and made direct eye contact with Fury. "Remember that, and we won't have any problems."

* * *

***Avengers Mansion, same time***

**8:10 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"We have a penthouse in Uptown! Why do we need to live here?"

"Hank, haven't you seen this place!? This has everything the penthouse has, and better and even more! Why the heck do we need to stay in that old place?"

"Because it's our home?! Jan, c'mon be reasonable-we can't just pack up all our stuff and move over here."

"They're still going at it?" Wanda asked with a chuckle as she sat down beside Natalia and Logan in one of the many lounges, a tea in her hands and beer in the others'. The attempts of Jan trying to convince Pym to move into Avengers Mansion had been going on for the last hour, and all across the mansion at that.

"_Da_," Natalia sighed as she drank her beer. "Nonstop, and it's driving me insane...why won't he just give in and agree to move into the Mansion?"

"Eh, I think Pym still has a shot at winnin'," Logan shrugged as he finished his own beer and thus the third six-pack he had gone through.

Wanda smiled as the three of them saw the Pyms walking past the doorway into their lounge, going back and forth as to why or why not moving into the Mansion was a good idea. She found the whole thing amusing, to be honest, and the former Brotherhood member knew that this was simply a first among an endless series of quirks that came with being a part of this team. She had to be honest; she was really looking forward to being a part of the Avengers. "So, Pietro's reading a book in his quarters; where's everyone else?"

"Banner's in his room meditatin'," Logan replied as he started on his fourth six-pack, "Thor said he was headin' off to see a friend of his in the Himalayas; Clint and Bobbi said they were goin' to check out their room, so they'll be busy for a while; Jess &amp; Danvers left, and Stark and Steve are meetin' Fury. Webs is off somewhere and I don't know about Panther."

"They're meeting Fury?" Natalia asked with a raised eyebrow. "What for?"

"Issues about the team," Logan replied with a shrug. "Apparently, a lot of people on the up high aren' exactly thrilled about this team-up of ours."

"I can imagine," Wanda sighed as she sipped her tea. "People aren't exactly supportive of me and Pietro being in the Avengers, I hear, what with our...well, our past."

"You have no idea," the Russian Avenger muttered as she finished her seventh beer; thanks to the Red Room programming &amp; enhancements within her body, she could easily match Steve &amp; Logan in a drinking contest. "There's a lot of talking on the Helicarrier. Fury is receiving a bit of heat from the World Security Council about the team, from what I hear Coulson saying. He even thinks that they want Fury to use the five of us to spy and keep tabs on the team."

"Really?" Wanda asked with some very slight concern.

"I doubt Fury would do that," Logan said. "Sure, he is THE spy, but even Fury has his own limits. But then again, it wouldn' surprise me, either. Hell, I'm pretty sure that he himself has some concerns about this, too."

"What do you mean?" Wanda asked.

"Well, think about it like this," Natalia said. "We have you and your brother, two former mutant terrorists that tried to extinguish humanity. We have the Hulk, a superhuman who has caused untold destruction around the globe, and who is technically still the property of the US military. We have an unknown superhuman in the form of Thor, an X-Man known to be…violent, a vigilante who is viewed as questionable at best, a billionaire with a literally weaponized clothing line; two love birds and a human-alien hybrid. Now, as the Director of SHIELD, Fury is basically responsible for the security of the whole planet, and we just announced a few weeks ago that we as Avengers will be doing just that as well. Now, in the eyes of the Council, the only ones that they deem 'normal' on the team are Captain America, Clint, Bobbi, Drew &amp; me, due to our ranks as SHIELD agents. They see this as needing Fury to use us five to keep an eye on the rest of the team. Why? Because everyone else on the Avengers, even Carol now, they see as a potential threat and disaster waiting to happen. So, if we as Avengers screw up somehow, guess who takes the heat?"

"Fury," Wanda surmised. "Heh, politics at its finest."

"At least the X-Men don' have to deal with that kind of thing," Logan smirked.

"We have other issues to worry about," Natalia replied as she lay back on the couch. "Like trying to actually work as a team at getting along with each other."

"The Hulk...kind of frightens me, actually," Wanda admitted quietly. "All that raw power...and such destructive force behind it, too..."

"He ain' so bad," Logan assured her. "And Banner is a good enough guy, too. Trust me; once you get to know 'em, the Hulk is actually a decent guy to talk to."

"Logan...didn't you fight him a few times?" Natalia asked. "And didn't Fury ask you on one of those times?"

"Eh, everyone's fought the Hulk at some point, right?" the mutant Avenger replied.

"Thor hasn't," Wanda offered as she finished her tea. "Although, I don't think that is something I'd like to see anytime soon. I still remember Thor fighting that bastard Loki."

"They seem like they'll hit it alright," Logan shrugged. "Webs and Danvers...not so much. But, even with that, I think that the Avengers have what it takes. We'll be alright, if you ask me."

"I'll be alright if we end up battling real threats," the Russian smirked. "Seriously, the Crusader is a joke."

"Careful whatchu wish for, Nat," Logan chuckled. "It might just come true."

"Oh, please. What's going to happen, Doom decides to destroy the world or something?"

* * *

***United Nations***

**8:22 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"Your Majesty, with all due respect," the Brazilian Councilwoman of the World Security Council said, "you're in a biased situation in which your support for the Avengers is due to you being a member. I do not think that anything you say will help you prove your point of the Avengers being a necessity in the world."

"Very well, then let our actions speak for us," T'Challa replied with agitation. He had only been through twenty minutes of this summit and already he wanted to kill someone. How the hell did his UN Representatives handle this and not harm someone?! "Council, you remember the day that the Earth almost fell into the hands of a madman, and how a banding of heroes was all that was able to claim victory and secure our peoples' tomorrow. Council, member nations, we all know that in the world there are threats to humanity and society that we have never seen before. Can we really afford to not make use of any and all tools to face this?"

"Is that not what the likes of SHIELD are for?" the representatives of Russia asked. "For what purpose do we need their presence if we have SHIELD and SWORD?"

"The West already has enough of these so called 'superheroes' at their disposal," the representative of Saudi Arabia agreed. "This Avengers team, they simply add to the number of potential weapons that the West may-"

"The Avengers do not belong to the West, nor do they respond or answer to any form of government," the Wakandan monarch countered. "The Avengers are an organization that has come together to do what they can to aid the world with the threats that humanity cannot handle. The Avengers do not fall under the American banner, even though the majority of members are American citizens."

"King T'Challa," the Japanese World Security Councilman spoke up, "the fact of the matter is, the Avengers are currently posing an extreme danger to the already fragile relations across the globe. With a number of members whose intentions are still widely unknown and who are notorious for being criminals across the planet, there is enough worry merited in the situation. We have no idea whatsoever as to how you and the Avengers plan to 'protect' the planet."

"You are basing your concerns on past incidents," the Panther replied. "The fact is that the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are reformed individuals and have even helped the X-Men on a few occasions. Dr. Bruce Banner is only labeled as a criminal because that is how General Ross makes him look like, despite the man's own questionable actions. I may go on and on, but the fact of the matter is, the Avengers came together simply to help and protect the world. Yes, we understand your concerns, but we assure you that there is nothing to be concerned about. All the Avengers wish to do is protect our freedom and our peace from those who would take it."

Before anyone could make any response, an explosion rang out as the large reinforced doors were suddenly blown off their hinges and into the far wall. As all leaders made for cover and their respective security teams made to protect them, the UN guards stationed there made to draw their weapons, only to have their bodies blasted by laser blasts colored a sickening green. Their bodies were ripped apart and sent flying across the room, and smoke quickly filled the room.

"That seems like a very far-fetched goal you have joined for."

All heads turned to the doors that allowed entrance into the large assembly hall, and all were greeted by a shocking, unexpected and fear inducing sight. Standing there were seven large android-like battle machines that stood eight feet tall, each one as intimidating as the one next to it. Each one had arms that turned into some form of ray guns, and they had no heads, but rather face-like appearances on their torsos. Standing in front of these death machines, though, was the true threat: a man clothed in a green cloak and grey metallic armor, a mask hiding his true disfigured face, and his gauntlets glowing with arcane energy.

"Tell me, T'Challa," the man sneered as he looked at the now battle ready monarch, "what made you decide to make promises you can't keep?"

T'Challa only took out a dagger as he stared his opponent down. "Victor Von Doom..."

* * *

**XXX**

_**TO BE CONTINUED...**_


	12. Teamwork for Dummies! Part 4

_**Aaaand we're back! Now, again, I thank you all for the reviews and whatnot, they mean a lot. I have gotten a lot of suggestions for arcs based off of some very popular titles. I have numerous titles that are planned, currently in the works and being thought up. Many are based on well-known arcs from Avengers EMH, the Avengers comics, Marvel events, the Marvel films &amp; TV shows, non-comic related franchises and even some inspiration here and there from DC titles. Now, unfortunately, there are some arc ideas that I will not be doing, and there will be famous events I won't be incorporating either. That being said, I would like to reiterate that this Avengers universe is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. There are aspects of character history, events, and other well-known aspects of the Marvel Universe that will be altered to fit this continuity. This is mainly due to it being a bit hard for me to find titles and arcs from back in the days of the 60s-late 80s, and libraries/comic stores only have so much and the internet gets you only so far...**_

_**There will be differences-some very noticeable, some only dedicated Marvelites from the older days will know or those who do their research. The point is, there WILL be changes from mainstream Marvel stuff to make this series as original as possible. I know that sometime in the future, some idiot will be like "Naw brah dis doesnt happan in da comix, yer a dumbass, why did you change this and that," yadda yadda yadda...I am giving you all fair warning that there will be alterations. You've already seen so with Carol being Captain Marvel pre-Avengers, Cap being in the 21st Century already, Pym as Yellowjacket, the Maximoffs as repentant already, etc… In fact, here's a preview of a few arcs with changes to some well-known Marvel arcs and plots:**_

"_**The 1st Universal War": this is a twist of the Annihilation series that will mix elements of Infinity into it with the Avengers joining the rest of the empires and the like to beat back Annihilus.**_

"_**Crush": this arc will introduce the Absorbing Man, and he will already be either married to or just living with Titania, before she gets her powers. Volcana is also already active.**_

"_**Onslaught" and "Dark Reign": Think DC's "Trinity War" &amp; "Forever Evil."**_

"_**The Crusades": a twist on the Warlock/Magnus concept, involving the Universal Church of Truth and the introduction of my version of the GOTG (a lot more members, by the way).**_

_**Arcs like the Civil War and Disassembled...most likely not happening. So please, you have been warned, and this is to prevent later random flames and me sighing at the failure of humanity. Thank you.**_

_**Ok! That said &amp; done, I'd like to clear up ages of the Avengers: Steve (31, plus 70+); Stark (41); Banner (39); Thor (70,000...give or take a few millennia?); Natalia (looks 25-29, really about 84; enhancements, right?); Clint (30); Bobbi (27); Maximoff Twins (28); T'Challa (31); Hank (38); Jan (33); Logan (230+); Jess (29); Carol (29); Peter (26). These are their ages at the moment, mind you.**_

_**Also, all chapters prior to this have been edited for errors and whatnot, and Chapter 11 had some additions around the "Jess &amp; Carol hack SHIELD" bit, but that's it. You'll also see if you look back in those chapters and with this one, you'll notice I've implemented a time &amp; date system, an idea I got from watching "Young Justice." Props to anyone who gets the reference made with the date chosen for the day the Avengers first united in Chapters 1-7.**_

_**And now, on with the show! Let the doomed battle begin! Remember to keep an eye out for the occasional cameo and Easter Egg!**_

_**Disclaimer: Marvel owns all characters unless otherwise specified.**_

* * *

Chapter 12: Teamwork for Dummies! Part 4

* * *

***Avengers Mansion***

**8:23 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"You have a fashion company to handle, Jan."

"I can just as easily take care of company business from here, Hank. Besides, I'd think you'd want to move in after seeing the labs down there."

"Hmm, they're not ending anytime soon," Wanda mused as she finished off her second cup of tea, she and a newly arrived Pietro listening in on the couple's argument while Natalia &amp; Logan exchanged a few laughs at an old World War II story. Clint and Bobbi were currently enjoying a movie in their own shared quarters. Bruce was meditating in his own room, new generation music softly playing from a radio next to his bed, both Banner and the Hulk discussing their timetable on who would be out when in their time as Avengers.

The Mansion, overall, had a tranquil atmosphere about it, one to be interrupted within mere seconds.

'Alert!' JARVIS' voice rang out across the mansion, bringing everyone currently in the building out of their business and activities. 'Avengers, Black Panther's ID card is sending a distress signal from the United Nations. Class Omega threat level is being asserted and carrying out at this moment.'

"The United Nations?" Jan asked as she and Pym dropped their still ongoing argument and raced into the lounge where Wanda, Pietro, Natalia and Logan were. "What's T'Challa doing there?"

'The United Nations was holding an assembly in regards to the Avengers being a force of power on the planet,' JARVIS replied. 'He had gone to argue in favor of the Avengers.'

"What's going on?!" Barton exclaimed as he and Bobbi rushed into the room. "We heard that Panther is sending a distress signal-!"

'Sirs, Madams,' the AI interrupted, 'according to various networks &amp; satellite images, it appears that Victor von Doom is striking the United Nations with a horde of Doombots and Latverian soldiers. King T'Challa is currently engaging.' This got extremely shocked looks from the present Avengers. 'If you could direct your attention to the screen...' JARVIS continued as the large plasma TV in the lounge instantly turned on, with the screen flashing between various news networks covering the assault on the United Nations.

"Uh...any word on the Fantastic Four?" Jan asked.

"Out on another inter-dimensional trip," Pym replied as he checked his belt.

"Sheesh, they're never around when ya need 'em," Logan snarled. "This is definitely not the first mission I was expectin' for this team. Talia, you just had to say somethin'." Natalia proceeded to then curse in Russian, following the Maximoff twins cursing in Romani.

"SHIELD's definitely going to be en route," Bobbi said, "but the Helicarrier was passing over Nova Scotia, last I checked."

"The NYPD is responding, but they won't be able to do squat," Barton agreed. "Panther won't be able to hold him off long; even Phobos had trouble with Doom once. We gotta get down there now!"

"Then let's get on the Quinjet," Banner said as he entered the room, his eyes glowing a brilliant jade. "Avengers...Assemble."

* * *

***Stark Tower***

**8:23 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"We'll usually keep at least three Avengers at the Mansion at all times," Steve said. "That's the plan anyways. Tony here already has the networks set up between the Mansion and the Helicarrier."

"Alright, fair enough," Fury replied as he shifted himself in the luxury chair in front of Stark's desk. After giving his word that he wouldn't be using the Avengers like his own little toys when he had a mess to clean up (with Nick Fury, however, the simple word never really guaranteed a lot), he decided he wanted to know a bit about the team's works and the like, to be able to coordinate with the Avengers if the needs arose. Steve was answering as best he could while Stark gave his two cents on occasion while working on the Avengers ID system. "What do you plan to do with the criminals and supervillains you deal with? Will you be going by the standard procedure the Warriors follow?"

"Probably," Steve agreed. "We'll either be waiting for a SHIELD pickup or deliver them to one of the five prisons ourselves."

"I thought there were six prisons," Stark interrupted. "The Vault, the Cube, the Raft, the Big House, Hydro Base and 42, right?"

"Well yeah, but bringing one to the Raft is essentially bringing them to 42," Steve countered.

"What, we can't go into 42 ourselves?"

"That's not unfeasible," Fury mused, "although, there could be an issue with-"

'Sir, I've detected a sort of...anomaly within my systems,' JARVIS interrupted.

"Wait, what?" Stark was right to be confused, sitting up and immediately bringing up the Stark networks; he had designed them, and JARVIS, himself, which he also reiterated at that moment. "That's not possible; what kind of anomalies?"

'It appears the networks are being hacked from offshore,' the AI stated. 'I haven't been able to detect it until now when the viruses began accessing the encrypted files of the Avengers' personnel files. It appears the culprits were trying to set up alarms for the instances when the personnel files were to be updated.'

"Offshore?" Fury said with legitimate concern as Stark began muttering furiously about how his systems were supposed to be immune to this type of thing. "Foreign powers are already trying to get into the Avengers' databases?!"

"Tony, I thought your systems were supposed to be untouchable," Steve said.

"Yeah, I thought so too," Stark muttered as he quickly activated programs to combat the viruses infecting JARVIS' networks, with other programs quickly trying to keep up and analyze. "Stark tech is the best in the world; we excelled in this kind of thing since my dad started it up before he died. There is no power or network or anything on this planet that should be able to hack into the Stark networks. Any hackers that even looked like they had the chance to, I got to them first and hired them."

"So what, maybe extraterrestrial?" Fury wondered. "The Kree may be trying to scout us out again?"

"No, it's definitely human tech; it's not binary electronics, making it really hard to fight off, but there are elements of base algorithms and information bytes making up these...but even if they are better than my tech, I have a little something that they don't have. A little algorithm that Dr. Pym's given me. Hank's been working on it for a few months now; he's designed it to run on a pattern and system similar to human brain waves, allowing it to adapt to any cyber-attack and counter it with real ease. I help him out on it on occasion, and he's got quite a few plans for it, and its enhanced my networks...hold on…" And with a few more rapid keystrokes, the billionaire sighed in relief. "Alright, I managed to kick them out, clear the viruses and get the security back...JARVIS, trace the hacks back to points of origin, wherever on the globe."

'The hackers used multiple proxy servers in attempts to keep any traces from locating them to their specific locations on the globe,' JARVIS stated; of course this was no problem for the highly advanced AI. 'It will require a few moments as I bypass...Location found, sir.'

"Bring up the coordinates on the map." JARVIS instantly obeyed as a 3D map of the globe phased into existence over Stark's desk via hologram projection. The AI instantly zoomed into a part of Northeastern Africa, specifically on the nation of…

"Wakanda?" Steve said in shock.

"Wakandan tech is indeed much more advanced than anything else on the planet," Fury said as he looked at the map. "And it doesn't run on binary electronics or code."

"Wakanda...so...Panther...T'Challa had his people hack into my networks for information on the Avengers?!" Tony almost yelled. "What the hell?! He was freaking complaining about Spider-Man being so secretive and here he goes betraying us like this-he was trying to get our information, spy on us!"

"This...there has to be a reasonable explanation," Steve said, trying to wonder why his old friend would do such a thing. "This isn't something T'Challa would-"

"Cap, it's right here in front of us! How can we-?!"

'Sir, the Avengers distress signal is coming in from the United Nations,' JARVIS interrupted.

"Fury, this is Hill!" a voice yelled from the Director's comm. "We have a situation at the UN!"

"Tony!" Pepper's voice rang from the intercom. "There's an attack on the United Nations going on right now!"

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Tony asked both JARVIS &amp; Pepper.

"What are you talking about, Hill?!" Fury responded as he pressed onto his comm link.

The three men, hearing the responses from the three sources, looked at each other, the same train of thought going through their minds at what was going on over at the United Nations.

* * *

***Carol Danvers' Apartment***

**8:23 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"-interrupt this program for a breaking news bulletin-"

"NO! NO NO! OH COME ON, YOU BLOODY LITTLE-!"

"Jess, shut up!" Carol yelled as she grabbed her Avengers ID card from the nearby table. "I think we have a situation! Panther's sending a distress signal from the United Nations!...wonder what he's doing there...Anyway, I think something big is happening!" Carol tried to listen to the message that Panther was relaying, but there was just too much static and background noise marring the words.

"You have no idea..." the British Avenger said simply as she grabbed Carol's head and turned it to the TV screen. The breaking news bulletin that had interrupted her Doctor Who marathon was of the assault on the United Nations by Latverian forces, supposedly being led by Victor von Doom himself.

"Oh my God..."

"I think we have to go to work," Jess said she quickly got out of her homely attire and into her uniform.

"You think?" Carol replied as she glowed brightly, her clothes morphing into her own uniform. As she and Jess quickly headed out the window and raced off towards the Lower East Side, she yelled into her ID card, "Panther, this is Captain Marvel! Spider Woman and I are on our way!" Grabbing her best friend's waist, she only said, "HANG ON!" as she blasted off for the United Nations.

* * *

***Peter Parker's Apartment, Chelsea, Manhattan***

**8:23 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"So...you're not going to tell them who you are yet?"

"No, not yet," Peter replied as he returned from his kitchen with a large bowl of popcorn and back into the living room of his apartment. Seated on the couch he now sat on was a stunning and very attractive young woman of 26 with luscious red hair and emerald eyes, wearing a form fitting pair of black jeans and a sweater over her white shirt. This was Peter's best friend since high school and, at one point, his girlfriend.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, MJ, they're all good people really...well maybe not the Hulk, but I mean that was just one time-I'm getting off track. Anyways, I know I can trust them, but I guess...I don't know I just have to get used to them first. I barely know them, after all, aside from Logan."

"Peter," Mary Jane Watson sighed as she took a handful of popcorn from the bowl. "Look, I get you, I really do. I know it's been really hard for you since Gwen died, and you closed yourself off from a lot of people because of what Osborn did. I know what you feel because of all the crap you've been through, but you have to remember that not everyone is going to jump on your secrets and try to end your life. The thing with Osborn was a one in a million chance of happen, and you just...got really unlucky. I don't think Gwen would want you to live a life like this because of her."

"I know, I know," the Web Head said with a sigh as he grabbed the TV remote from the coffee table in front of them. "I just want to play it safe for a while, y'know? I don't want something like this to happen again. I wouldn't want something to happen to Aunt May or Harry or you."

"I know, but still, Peter," Mary Jane replied. "Didn't it occur to you that this might possibly make them all not...like you?"

"What? Oh please, everyone there loves me," Peter grinned as he chuckled, finding the movie they had decided to watch that night. "Thor loves me, Cap loves me, Stark loves me...Spider Woman loves me, too, and Hawkeye-"

"Oooh, Spider Woman, hmm?" MJ interrupted with a teasing voice. "Looks like someone's hit the jackpot...!"

"Whoa, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Peter chuckled. "Sure, she's a bit flirty but that's all...although she did love my black suit...oh, that would be a great story for the first date, how I got the black suit! Guaranteed to freak her out." At that, MJ couldn't help but laugh at his sad joke. "Anyways, Hawkeye is a work in progress...Captain Marvel is, eh...she's alright."

"Ok, what did you do to her?" Mary Jane asked. She recognized that tone of voice; it was all too familiar with her from their dating days.

"What? What could possibly make you think I did something to..." Peter saw MJ's deadpanned look, and relented. "Okay...I may have possibly used the act that she's a stick in the mud to my advantage and annoyed her non-stop with my charming humor."

"Oh, Peter, you didn't..." She meant it as a scolding manner, but it was just too funny...

"It's not my fault, she was just too easy to annoy!"

"You know she can throw you into space, right?"

"Eh, that already happened once, she'd need to-" But Peter never finished as his Avengers ID began beeping rapidly from within his pocket. "Huh...it's the Avengers distress signal..." He said as he took it out, "from Black Panther. It looks like it's coming from the UN. I think Jonah said something about sending a few guys there tonight for something..."

"Oh my God! Peter, look at the screen!" Mary Jane gasped, causing the hero to do so. The movie had been interrupted by a news bulletin, and what it showed was a rather shocking sight...

_"-continue to bring this to you live, as Latverian forces continue to storm the United Nations. The NYPD are arriving in full force and American soldiers stationed at the UN are already engaging, but they don't seem to be able to handle this show of force. Black Panther of the Avengers is already on scene and if rumors that Latverian ruler Victor von Doom is on site are true, then this is certainly a-"_

"Are you fu-..! DOOM is attacking!?" Peter exclaimed. This was waaaay in over his head...still... "Dammit, Panther's not going to be able to last against Doom. MJ, I-!"

"No, don't apologize, you need to get over there," the redhead interrupted. "But be careful; you may have a team to back you up, but you can still get hurt. I'll call May for you." Peter nodded and dashed off to his room, returning less than a minute later with his black suit on. "I thought you finished fixing the usual one," MJ mused.

"Yeah, but this is the first one I grabbed," Peter shrugged as he and MJ headed to the hall where the rooftop hatch was. "Don't worry," he assured her, "I'll be fine."

"I'll believe it when I see you and the Avengers stop that freak," MJ smirked. "Go get 'em, tiger."

"I'll be back soon as I can!" With that, the arachnid jumped up out of the window hatch and out into the open Manhattan air. With a quick flick of his wrist, the Amazing Spider-Man was off.

"Panther, this is Spider-Man," he said into his ID card. "I'm on my way now, so hang on!"

* * *

***The United Nations complex***

**8:25 PM EST June 16, 2012**

It was total chaos as panicking diplomats and other civilians were fleeing left and right. Guards, armed personnel, bodyguards and soldiers were fighting a rapidly losing battle as they engaged the heavily armed Latverian forces now storming the UN complex.

Explosions and gunfire echoed in the night skies as the invaders secured the area and started capturing diplomats and international representatives while keeping their enemies at bay with raging storms of bullets and high caliber laser blasts. As police and SWAT began arriving, the Latverians began directing their assault onto them as well, making sure to keep the arriving reinforcements away from the action...even if they weren't going to be much help anyways.

The side of the UN building suddenly erupted in an explosion as a towering Doombot was sent crashing down into the ground, vibranium daggers embedded into its circuitry. Seconds later, it was followed by a figure in somewhat tattered royal Wakandan attire flying into the ground as three powerful bursts of energy came crashing out of the building as well. As the Black Panther got back up, an ominous figure arrogantly walked out of the gaping hole in the wall, his metallic gauntlet pulsating with emerald magic energy, and the rest of his Doombots following him.

"You disappoint me, T'Challa," Victor von Doom sneered as he unleashed his arcane blasts, the Wakandan just barely able to dodge them. "Did you not say mere minutes ago that you and your...Avengers would be the ones to protect the world from those who…'threaten' your freedom? I must say," he continued as he continued firing more and more blasts, his Doombots joining in on the assault. "Your actions leave much to be desired."

Panther's only reply was to throw a trio of daggers at the power hungry monarch, all three of which pitifully fell to the ground thanks to Doom's shields. The maneuver, did, however, allow the distraction that the Avenger needed to strike the Latverian in close quarters, forcing Doom to stagger back from the Wakandan's quick &amp; vicious blows. Although T'Challa wasn't dressed with his Black Panther garb, he was still the mighty King of Wakanda and the Black Panther. He still had a few weapons on his person, including his clawed gloves, as well as his skills in unarmed and hand-to-hand combat. He would fight on with these, and he did so as he engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Doom, their skills quickly forcing a stalemate...until the Latverian blasted T'Challa with an arcane blast, sending him flying a dozen feet.

"None strike Doom," Doom remarked with a frown as he recollected himself, proceeding to unleash a new bombardment against the Wakandan and ordering his Doombots to stand down for now.

"Why are you here, Doom?!" T'Challa demanded as he evaded the blasts. "For what purpose have you come to sow this chaos?! You aren't one for politics, and you have made it clear on many an occasion that the United Nations is beneath your notice. You've never sought to strike against it, so why start now?!"

"You are right, T'Challa, both politics and the United Nations are beneath me; there is nothing either can accomplish that will prevent me from my ultimate goal. As to why I have chosen to strike now...I am here to simply...make a statement."

Claws met gauntlets as the two monarchs clashed again in close quarters. "A statement?!"

"Indeed," Doom sneered. "Look around you, Wakandan; as we battle, my forces are causing destruction...the very same destruction you promised to protect these people from. The so-called freedom you sought to ensure, my soldiers are ripping it away as they seize diplomats from every nation present, including your own...all of which is being broadcasted across the globe by the media. You think I am mad to say simply I make a statement? I am showing the world just how foolish they are in putting their faith in so-called heroes like you. I am showing them how their Avengers cannot stand before me!" Doom then grabbed T'Challa by the throat and threw him into a pile of debris. "I am showing the world that no matter what or who stands in defiance of destiny, ALL SHALL BOW BEFORE DOOM!"

T'Challa got back up from the ground, his claws glistening in the lights of the explosions of battle around them. "You remind me of a madman the Avengers had battled against not too long ago. I would imagine that Thor has much to discuss with you. And if that encounter with Loki has taught me anything, it is that you are wrong. United as one, we will succeed and triumph over those like you. We shall prevail and safeguard the world. You will never succeed in claiming the world as your own. The Avengers will always be here to ensure that."

"A somewhat moving speech, King of Wakanda," Doom sneered as he approached him, his gauntlet crackling with arcane energy. "Unfortunately, there are two flaws in it, one being that the Avengers aren't here standing beside you."

"That is where you'd be wrong."

Doom narrowed his cold eyes at the monarch, his mask hiding his frown. It was only a second later that Victor von Doom understood as he turned around and upwards...only to be bombarded by a potent wave of hex spheres raining down from the skies. Doom's roars of agony were quickly silenced as the Latverian monarch quickly conjured up a near unshatterable force field, blocking him from the rest of the hexes that had caused him great pain.

"AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!" Scarlet Witch cried out as she, Quicksilver, Wolverine, Wasp, Yellowjacket, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Mockingbird and Hulk came free falling from jumping out of their Quinjet. The Avengers had arrived.

Immediately, Hulk struck at Doom, delivering an earth shattering blow that would have crippled the European monarch...had it not been for the force fields Doom had quickly erected to block the blow. With a magically reinforced fist, Doom delivered a powerful right hook that sent the green titan staggering back a couple of steps. "NONE STRIKE DOOM, FOOLISH BRUTE!" Doom roared out as he unleashed a barrage of arcane blasts. This only served to anger the green monster further and make him charge for Doom once again, sending both of them crashing into the UN building.

"T'Challa, are you alright?!" Pym asked as he approached the Wakandan Avenger, helping him up as the others came over as well.

"Yes, I am fine," he replied as he popped his neck. "A few minor injuries, but nothing to be concerned about."

"Well, did you find out what Doom's doing here?" Jan asked.

"Indeed, Wasp: he is here simply in his own arrogance. He wishes to show the world just how wrong they are in putting their trust in us...specifically us."

"So...basically put us in our place," Logan determined.

"Precisely."

"This is definitely very bold of Doom," Natalia remarked as she turned to the UN building, where the sounds of the Hulk battling the Latverian monarch echoed into the night air. "To do such a thing on foreign soil, instead of drawing us to his own grounds; this isn't like him at all."

"Um, we've got bigger problems than just that," Hawkeye added as he readied a trio of arrows. "Doom's soldiers aren't just causing a bunch of chaos, but they're attacking diplomats and representatives. It looks like they're taking them hostage and off to who knows where."

"Guys, we're here," Captain Marvel announced as she and a slightly rattled Spider Woman flew down onto the scene. "Looks like the Panther's ok...but what the hell is Doom doing attacking the United Nations? I'm not seeing any military tactics in play here."

"Forget that," Jess interrupted, "what's the plan here?!"

No one was able to reply as a massive roar rang out into the Manhattan air when the form of the Hulk was sent flying out of the building. Sent crashing through a number of buildings, his impact a few blocks away sent rumbles across the entirety of Midtown. The other Avengers turned to see Victor von Doom exiting from the massive hole in the building, his hood gone and his gauntlets pulsating heavily with arcane energy and electricity.

"None strike Doom without consequence," he snarled as he aimed his gauntlets at them. "Not even the Avengers. However, when I am done with you, there will be no Avengers, and the world will learn that not even you can stand against the might of Victor von Doom!" With only a second long whine of energy as a warning, a massive surge of arcane and electrical energy blasted towards the heroes. Luckily, Wanda managed to block Doom's magic with her own chaos shields while Carol absorbed the full brunt of the electrical strike.

"Everyone, Carol and I shall deal with Doom," Wanda cried out to her teammates, to which Carol agreed with a nod. "The rest of you have to stop those soldiers!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Clint agreed. "Alright, Nat and Logan, take the ones on the left-!"

"You will take nothing!" Doom exclaimed with arrogant authority. "Doombots, ensure that they do not leave this battle!" In that instant, the five remaining Doombots struck from seemingly nowhere, firing their deadly bolts of laser energy at the other Avengers, instantly forcing them to turn their focus from the Latverian soldiers to the Doombots themselves. As the sounds of battle reached new levels of intensity, Doom returned his attention to the two Avengers that dared to oppose him. With his gauntlets again surging with arcane and electrical energy, he readied himself for battle, knowing that the real battle was already won.

"We will only give you one chance, Doom," the Scarlet Witch said with command, her hands pulsating with arcane hex energy. Carol flew up into the skies slightly, her own fists glowing with photonic energy. "You face two of the most powerful beings on the planet."

"But not THE most powerful," Doom mocked. "You would be foolish to engage me in a battle where the magical advantage is mine, daughter of Magneto."

"You would be wise to not mock the abilities sowed by the hands of Agatha Harkness," Wanda smirked.

"Harkness?!" Doom's cackle did its job of unnerving Wanda's confidence in her own arcane magics, and his next words proved to only further enhance her concerns. "How can the abilities of that witch compare," Doom exclaimed as he fired his blasts, "when set to match against the powers cultivated by Morgan le Fay herself?!"

* * *

***Midtown, Manhattan***

**8:30 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"Alright boys, let's get this show on the road."

Mac and his gang were currently in their van, each of them armed to the teeth with the weapons provided by Tombstone, all wearing ski masks. They were right in front of the bank, which happened to be a 24 hour business. They could see that there weren't that many people inside; perhaps 12 at most, including two armed guards and three tellers.

This was going to be a piece of cake.

"What if the Webfreak shows up?"

Mac turned to the thug who had asked the question. "The Webfreak?! Brian, weren't you listening to the radio?! Victor von Doom is attacking the United Nations! All the Avengers are over there right now! Ain't no way Spidey is gonna have time for us, man! Trust me, we got this!"

This seemed to be enough to calm the nerves of said thug, and he and the others were reassured that this sting would go over well. They'd barge in, grab the cash in the vault and race off before the cops arrived…if they arrived at all. From there, they'd head off to Tombstone's building and hand over the cash. If they were lucky and the Big Man was in one of his "moods," they might each get a 1% cut.

"Ok, boys…it's show time."

With that, Mac secured both his mask and gun and got out of the van, his gang following close behind. Within moments, the bank was alive with the sounds of gunfire.

* * *

***Midtown, Manhattan***

**8:30 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"What's the word, Fury?!" Cap demanded as he raced through the streets on his motorcycle.

"It's chaotic, plain and simple, Rogers," Fury replied, racing just behind the Super Soldier in his own SHIELD SUV, with Stark flying along overhead in his Iron Man Mark 17 "Heartbreaker" armor. "Latverian soldiers are abducting international diplomats and representatives, and I got Hill telling me that the Avengers are engaging Mk3 Doombots, the giant ones. Scarlet Witch and Danvers are engaging Doom himself and Hulk is currently making his way back onto the scene from being thrown across Midtown. I have Hill on the line with confirmation that Thor is heading this way from Asia."

"What the hell is Doom playing at, attacking the United Nations of all places?!" Stark wondered out loud. "He's never done anything like this before. Since when is attacking the UN going to help him conquer the world?!"

"For all we know, it may not even be Doom and might just be a damn Doombot," the SHIELD Director remarked as he and Rogers made a hard right towards the United Nations. Within less than a minute, they had arrived...only to be greeted by a hailstorm of bullets and energy laser, courtesy of Latverian troops. Screams and chaotic explosions set the scene for their eyes as they saw civilians screaming for their lives and various uniformed and armed personnel trying to get a hold of the situation. As Stark descended and Steve and Fury rushed up to the scene, they could make out the titanic battle occurring within the UN grounds. They were also just in time to see the Hulk smash right back onto the scene, joining the Scarlet Witch and Captain Marvel in battling Doom.

"Alright," Steve said as he immediately made a number of tactical decisions in his mind, "Fury, start coordinating with all armed personnel that are on our side to face those soldiers; with the other Avengers tied down with the Doombots, we need to stop them from capturing any more international workers." Without awaiting a reply, the First Avengers made a mad dash towards the battle, with Iron Man following close behind from the air. Dealing out shield blows and repulsor blasts into the mass of Latverians, the two leaders soon made their way onto the scene, Stark immediately firing his uni-beam at a Doombot Wolverine and Spider Woman had been battling.

"About time you both showed up!" Logan roared as he jumped after it and sunk his claws into the metallic body.

"Never mind that, Logan," Rogers replied as he threw his shield at another Doombot. "Right now, we focus on getting these robots off the field!"

"Easier said than done, Cap!" Mockingbird yelled as she dodged an energy blast from the Doombot she was battling, allowing Hawkeye to retaliate with explosive arrows. "These things are some of Doom's most powerful military weapons, and we've hardly made a dent these last twenty minutes!"

"Well, with the full team here, and Thor on the way, we can change that!" Jan exclaimed as she delivered a powerful blow to one of the Doombots in her giant form. "Is Spider-Man with you?"

"Wait, he's not here?" Stark replied as he fired his warheads. "We thought you were all already here!"

"Are you joking?!" Quicksilver demanded as he delivered an onslaught of punches onto the Doombot he and Black Widow were battling. "He's not with you?!"

"He's probably on his way here!" Logan replied as he slashed away.

"Then what the hell is taking him so long?!"

"Forget him!" Panther interrupted, the authority of a king taking him. "We are here now, so we shall deal with Doom!"

"Panther's right," Stark agreed. "Logan, Panther, Jan, Pym and I will handle the Doombots. Wanda, Hulk and Captain Marvel can keep Doom busy. The rest of you, start taking down those Latverian soldiers! We can't let them grab any more hostages...especially since they seem to keep disappearing and taking them who knows where!" It was true; since the assault on the United Nations began, Latverian soldiers had been grabbing international workers, only to disappear with them to an unknown location. They had to put a stop to it.

"Alright, team, you heard the man," Rogers said, taking command. "Avengers Assemble!"

As the Avengers split to do their assigned jobs, however, Stark quickly flew down to the Wakandan monarch and roughly grabbed his shoulder, surprising him.

"When this is all done," Stark said with anger, "we're having a little talk about trust and hacking into my systems."

T'Challa instantly understood what he meant. "Now is not the time, Stark," he simply replied before he dashed off to confront a Doombot.

...only for the body of the Hulk to be sent crashing into the very Doombot he was making to attack, the hero's massive body utterly crushing the Latverian war machine under his weight as both landed in the ground with a massive impact and booming noise, the Doombot exploding under the Hulk's momentum-enhanced strength. Massive bolts of electricity and arcane magic then proceeded to bombard the area, enticing massive roars of pain from the Hulk and forcing the other Avengers to scatter and avoid the attack.

"Fools!" Doom yelled as he delivered a stunning blow to Wanda, allowing him to deliver a powerful blast of magical energy towards Carol. The heroine, up until now, had been keeping herself to delivering punches and photon blasts, and absorbing only Doom's electrical blasts. She had no idea what his arcane energy would do to her, and having only dealt with magical energy only once in an instance that she would rather not relive, she had done her best to avoid them. This time it was not to be as Doom landed a devastating blast on her, making her shriek in pain as she felt a plethora of painful surges within her body while being sent crashing back into the UN building. "Can't you see that you are outmatched in every sense of the word?! Doom cannot be stopped or hindered! Your proclamations of protecting this cesspool of a free society are nothing when set against the power and might of Victor von Doom!" As the villainous monarch cackled, he unleashed an even more vicious assault of magic and electrical blasts. "Yield and recognize that Doom shall-!"

"HAVE AT THEEEEEEE!"

**FRAKALABOOOOOOOMMMMMM!**

The entirety of the immediate Midtown area rumbled as Thor Odinson announced his arrival by landing a devastating blow with Mjolnir against Victor von Doom, the villains unable to erect any form of magical barriers. As such, the automatic shields his armor provided shattered under the blow of the mystical weapon, sending the monarch flying and crashing into the ground, a devastating crater forcing itself into existence from the impact. As the Asgardian touched down onto the ground, he called forth a massive storm, lightning bolts dancing in the heavens before cascading down upon the remaining Doombots and sending them into oblivion.

"And the cavalry is here!" Hawkeye exclaimed.

"'Bout freakin' time, if you ask me," Logan huffed as he wiped machine fragments off his black uniform.

"No kidding," Carol added as she got back up, still feeling the effects of Doom's blasts.

"Ho, Avengers," the Thunder God greeted with a wide smile as he turned to his teammates. "I received your message of distress, and I must say I hadn't expected such a battle as this so soon after uniting. It appears, though, that I made it just in time," he added as he offered the Hulk his hand, helping the titan back on his feet.

"Hmph, I had him," he muttered.

"I'm sure," Thor chuckled.

The team's little moment was interrupted as a massive explosion rang out from the United Nations headquarters, a green light and lightning procuring from it as the Latverian monarch walked out of the massive hole that was born from his collision and impact. His gauntlets glowed with nothing but his most powerful of arcane energies, and even though his metallic mask hid his face from the world, he was sure to have a look of anger that would send even the bravest of men cowering back to their mother. The rage in his eyes spoke volumes of that. And yet, his voice was that of calm and collection, a trait that was notorious for the monarch.

"And now, the Asgardian has arrived on the scene," he remarked as he faced the Avengers. "The supposed Norse God of Thunder, Thor Odinson. Tied with the monstrous brute as the second most powerful member of your little group, if the end results of your debuting battle were any indication. You have made quite the reputation for yourself, Odinson, these past few months."

"And I know of your reputation, Victor von Doom," Thor retorted as he gripped his hammer, facing the villain with full confidence. "A tyrant who seeks to conquer Midgard for yourself, who believes himself above the rest of the mortals of this realm. I say thee, nay." Mjolnir began crackling with electricity. "In comparison to the might of an Asgardian, you are no different than any mortal endowed with power that I must best in battle. I have vowed that Midgard would be under my protection, and that shall stand as long as I draw breath. Whatever your plans for conquest, I shall foil them, as shall my allies.

"I must disagree. There is truly none like Doom. And you cannot prevail against me. Already, you have failed to prevail in keeping your promises to this world. Look around you, Avengers, and see the destruction that is being reaped by my soldiers. While you face me, the very security and freedom you promised you would secure for them is being ripped away, with you Avengers being able to do nothing about it. I am showing you and the world just how well you stand against a being of my stature. I am showing you all how futile your promises are, how empty and hollow they are. I am showing them, Avengers, that not even you can stand against the might of Victor von Doom."

"I think not, villain," Thor countered as he began twirling his weapon. "But if you truly wish to test your might against the Prince of Asgard, then so be it!" With that, he blasted a surge of celestial lightning directly at the monarch...only for the attack to be stopped by a powerful magical force field, created by a wave of Doom's hand.

Needless to say, Thor was shocked; only Odin, Loki and just few others of the Nine Realms of the Cosmos had ever been able to block his lightning strikes. "Odin's beard...how-?"

"The powers of Morgan le Fay flow within me, Odinson," Doom sneered arrogantly. "With it, I am able to even best gods!"

"Let us then put that to the test!" Thor roared as he rushed forward in the blink of an eye and swatted the Latverian monarch with Mjolnir, sending him flying...before Doom retaliated with a vicious blast of arcane energy, to which Thor countered with lightning blasts. "Avengers," he called out, "make haste and strike at Doom's army! I shall battle the tyrant and keep him at bay!"

With that, Thor flew at Doom and delivered a powerful punch, which Doom barely managed to block with his magical force fields. The two powerful beings exchanged electrical blasts, which Doom switched up for arcane blasts, managing to hit the Asgardian a few times. Though blessed with the resistance of the Norse Pantheon, Thor felt those magical blasts very well, and he could feel and tell that the magics that Doom had at his command rivaled that of Loki, Karnilla and Enchantress. This fact did not faze him, however, as the Norse Thunder God struck again with Mjolnir against the Latverian.

Again, Doom managed to block the blow with his shields before dealing his own blow with magically enhanced fists, which Thor also blocked. Thor then raced up into the skies and threw Mjolnir at the monarch. The power of the weapon too great, Doom's shields couldn't take the strike and he was slammed back into the ground. Doom retaliated by invoking a spell that sent the debris surrounding him flying towards the Asgardian, distracting him long enough for Doom to fire more arcane blasts.

"Alright, Thor's given us some good time so let's put that to good use!" Cap commanded. "Stark, get airborne and try tracking those diplomats and where they're being taken. Logan, Hawkeye, Widow, Mockingbird, Spider Woman, Quicksilver and Panther! You're with me on getting these soldiers off the board. Jan and-"

"My soldiers and those they are taking are the least of your concerns, Avengers!" Doom proclaimed as he dodged another strike from Thor. "You should concentrate more on your own teammate turning against you!"

"What nonsense do you speak, villain?!" Thor demanded as he readied to deliver another strike. "The Avengers stand as united as the stones of a palace!"

"You would be wrong," Doom replied as he sidestepped the Asgardian at the last second before suddenly grabbing him by the head and unleashing a surge of devastating arcane energy from his hands. He began chanting in a language that none of the Avengers understood. That wasn't their biggest concern, however, as the painful and agonizing screams of Thor rang out from the power of Doom's spell. After what seemed like an eternity, Doom ceased his spell and flung the Thunder God unceremoniously aside, his hammer falling to the pavement of the complex.

"Thor!" Cap called out.

"What did you do, Doom!?" Stark demanded.

If there were no mask on Doom's face, a mocking sneer was sure to be on his disfigured face. "I have shown you why the Avengers will fail against Doom."

"Look," Morse called out as she pointed to the now stirring form of Thor. "Thor's alright." The Avengers found themselves feeling relief that their teammate was OK...for only moments, however, before they saw the cold and emotionless look on the Asgardian's face. What really set fear into their hearts, however, were the small tinges of green in his blue eyes.

"Uh...Thor? Are you alright?" Jess asked as the Thunder God stood at full height.

"No..." Wanda gasped, recognizing what this was. "He isn't."

"How perceptive, little girl," Doom remarked. "I had originally decided to use your brute, but this choice seems to be better in reaping the results I seek. Now...for you to break apart by your feeble strings. Thor," the monarch then commanded to Thor, who summoned his hammer back to him. "Destroy the Avengers."

"Aye."

This definitely shocked the others immensely. "What..what the hell!?" Hawkeye shouted in horror. "I thought Thor was on our side!"

"He's been put under some sort of mind control spell!" Wanda yelled as Thor advanced menacingly towards them, twirling Mjolnir in his hand. "Doom has his under his control now!" She immediately began focusing a massive amount of her own hex magic in her hands. "I think I can disrupt the spell. I need you all to distract him so I can triiiiaaaaaaaaaaggghhhhh!"

"WANDA!" Pietro cried out as Wanda was suddenly hit and devastated by an arcane blast, courtesy of Victor von Doom. As Pietro caught his sister as she fell, she convulsed for a few moments before she went limp, succumbing to unconsciousness.

"I think not," Doom snarled as his outstretched hand sizzled with the use of his blasts.

Before anyone could react, Thor threw his hammer at the Avengers. Iron Man managed to erect his armor's strongest shield to try and take the blow, but it didn't prove to be enough. The impact shattered the shield completely, with the sonic waves from the impact sending the heroes flying. Only Hulk was able to fully resist the attack, and Rogers managed to block most of the shockwaves with his shield, protecting himself, Pietro and the unconscious Wanda.

"You will fall before the might of Mjolnir!" Thor roared, the skies dancing with lightning as thunder rumbled with judgment.

"Fall back!" Cap yelled out. This was suddenly looking very bad for the team; one of their most powerful guns had just been turned against them, with another of them out cold. As Thor ravaged the area with his lightning, the Super Soldier quickly strategized and made the best tactical choices he could. They needed to contain or take Thor down, keep Wanda safe and stop Doom.

Turning to the mutant speedster, he said, "Pietro, we need to get Wanda to-!"

"DOOOOMM!" Pietro yelled in fury as he struck the monarch in the blink of an eye, Cap's words never reaching his ears. He was consumed by his rage, angered that this villain had attacked his sister in such a manner. Instinct that was drilled into him by himself for almost 20 years instantly took over as he attacked Doom with brotherly vengeance. "How dare you attack Wanda!? I will cause you such pain that-!"

"Your threats are nothing to Doom," Doom interjected as he unleashed a vicious shock of electricity, the currents stunning and hurting the mutant enough for him strike with return the favor with a powerful backhand strike, sending the speedster staggering back in pain.

Meanwhile, Carol and Hulk were trying to subdue Thor; the Hulk jumped at Thor and managed to pummel him with a few good hits before the Asgardian deflected one and struck back with equal force. Captain Marvel began a fierce barrage of photon blasts that Thor blocked by spinning Mjolnir in a defensive formation. Both Avengers then struck as one and delivered a combo punch, the impacts echoing for miles and felt across Midtown. This did nothing in deterring Thor as he retaliated with both a mighty haymaker at Carol and an even mightier strike with his hammer at Hulk. With a roar of war, Thor called down lightning and bombarded the Hulk, making the titan roar in pain and fury.

Carol made to block the attack and absorb it, but Thor intercepted her by throwing Mjolnir right into her. Hulk managed to disperse the lightning with a thunderclap, but was then slammed into the ground by a powerful kick from Thor. Not to be outdone, Hulk ripped a portion of concrete out of the ground and slammed it into his opponent. He then attempted to grab the Asgardian only for him to grab his arm and fling him aside into one of the nearby United Nations support system buildings three blocks away, enticing a thunderous explosion. This did, however, manage to distract Thor long enough for Carol to grab him from behind with a sleeper hold. The human-Kree hybrid employed all her superhuman strength and her military &amp; SHIELD training into her strike as she strove to bring the fiercely resisting Thor down.

"C'mon Thor, we're your friends, your teammates, remember!? You've got to snap out of this, you have to fight Doom's control over you! I know you're in there, so snap-!"

"Unhand me!" he roared, his anger manifested in the vicious lightning show dancing in the heavens. Carol hoped that in his anger, he would bombard her with his celestial lightning bolts, thus augmenting her strength to near-godlike levels again and possibly helping her subdue him.

To her horror, he instead bombarded himself with the lightning, and as the Norse God of Thunder, he was empowered even more and thus was able to easily rip Carol's sleeper hold off him and strike her with a vicious haymaker, sending her flying into the skies where he followed her and delivered an almighty blow with Mjolnir on her and send her crashing into the ground, her impact giving birth to a 20 meter wide and 15ft deep crater, complete with an unconscious heroine.

_'Dammit, there goes Big Gun #3,'_ Rogers frowned as Thor then turned towards the rest of the Avengers.

Iron Man unleashed a full powered uni-beam, which Thor sent ricocheting into the skies with a whack of his hammer. "Ok, so the supposed god on our team is now mind controlled by the most dangerous man on the planet and is getting ready to kill us," he remarked as he, Barton, Natalia, Jess and Jan readied to fire. "This is so not how I envisioned our first team building exercise."

"Speakin' of bad jokes, havin' the Webhead here would really help," Logan muttered as he unleashed his claws. "Dammit, where the hell is he?"

"Who cares?!" Barton replied. "We're going to be killed here!"

"Stow that talk, Avenger," Rogers replied as he readied his shield. "We'll find a way."

"Unless a miracle drops out of the sky, Comrade," Natalia frowned as she cocked her M27, "I do not see how."

"Enough talk," Thor cried out as he whirled his hammer. "You shall all be smitten and felled where you stand, and I shall-!"

"HULK SMAAAAAAAASSHHHH!"

**CRAKAKALABOOOOOOOOOMMMM!**

The ground thundered and even cracked in a few places as the Hulk dropped down from the sky and back into battle, delivering his signature "Hulk Smash" on Thor, driving the Thunder God deep into the ground with the force of impact. As it that wasn't enough, Hulk followed it up with a vicious round of powerful haymakers, striking Thor in the chest and face. With a final roar of brutal anger, he slammed his foot onto the Asgardian, the sheer power behind the strike driving Thor deeper into the ground and sending tremors all across Midtown. Satisfied for the moment, the Hulk jumped back, waiting for the moment when Thor would come back out.

"I'll handle Goldilocks," he said as he turned back to the other Avengers. "You all stop Doom or whatever."

"You sure, Hulk?" Stark asked. The Hulk simply nodded in reply. "Alright...but Hulk, you should get this fight away from here; both you and Thor are the most powerful members of the team in terms of strength. Your fight would be catastrophic in Manhattan. You'll have to-"

"The park on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island," Pym offered in interruption. It should be empty at this time of night, and isolated enough."

The gamma-based hero grunted with a nod as he turned back to see Thor getting out of the huge crater, his armor chipped in several places and with a dented helmet in his hand. Casting aside the helmet, the Asgardian locked glares with the Incredible Hulk. Gripping his hammer tightly, he readied himself to jump and strike. Hulk did the same, him and Banner calculating the right amount of power they'd need to drag Thor with them across the East River and onto Roosevelt Island. Stark was right: here was too much of a risk for civilians to have him clash with Thor. If Loki's invasion was any reminder to go by, this would be the most powerful opponent the Hulk had ever or would ever face.

As the other Avengers were making for him, Victor von Doom smirked to himself. The first part of his plan was almost complete, and he could see it would be a success. Tossing the limp form of Quicksilver aside, the Latverian monarch readied himself for battle, his gauntlets pulsating with energy. It didn't matter the outcomes anyways, even though he knew he would win this night. The damage was already done. With his smirk plastered under his mask, Doom engaged once more in battle as he blocked Logan's claw slashes and met Stark's repulsors with his own energy blasts.

With a yell, Thor flung his hammer at Hulk, landing a devastating hit as Hulk staggered back. As the Asgardian rushed forward to strike again, Mjolnir returning to his hand, the Hulk retaliated with a monstrous thunderclap, sending Thor flying back dozens of feet. Charging to strike, in hopes of throwing Thor towards Roosevelt Island, Hulk jumped and made to attack again only for Thor to use his legs to kick him falling form away. While the Hulk started getting up, Thor summoned a storm of lightning and fired it all completely upon Hulk, burning and electrocuting the titan. Enraged as the pain coursed through his body, Hulk slammed his fists into the ground, sending a massive shockwave and fissure straight for Thor. This succeeded in making the Thunder God lose his footing instantly and very badly, distracting him enough for Hulk to ram his fist into his face, sending Thor flying into the skies and making him drop Mjolnir.

Seeing the hammer crash onto the ground, Banner quickly rationalized that they had to get the hammer out of the way to make beating Thor easier; in agreement, Hulk made to pick it up and throw it into the East River...but found himself unable to as it felt as if the entirety of the universe's gravity was weighing down the weapon. No matter how hard he tried, Hulk couldn't lift the hammer. His attempts were suddenly interrupted as Thor threw a chunk of concrete from some of the debris at him, distracting the titan enough for Thor to savagely bum rushed the titan, grabbing him by the sides and slamming him into the ground, only for Hulk to retaliate with a backhand strike, sending the Norse deity flying a few dozen feet. As the two near-omnipotent beings regained their bearings, they locked glares with each other, sizing each other up before they really unleashed their full power.

"Goldilocks, hold on," Hulk said to the approaching Thunder God, trying to reason with him one last time. "We're not the bad guys here. We're your teammates. You need to snap out of it or people will be-"

"Be silent, brutish monster," Thor snarled as he cracked his knuckles. "It is time you are finally felled, and who better to do so that the mighty Thor Odinson? The gates of Asgard shall know your threats never more!

"It doesn't look like we can get through to him," Banner mused to Hulk from within their shared mindscape. "We'll have to fight him and force him down until Wanda can recover and reverse the mind control spell. I just hope that happens soon."

"Still..." Hulk smirked as he cracked his knuckles, "I have been itching to put Goldilocks in his place."

Back on the streets of Manhattan, the two titans stared each other down for scant seconds more before making their way towards each other, first by slow steps but soon in running bounds. Within moments, they were almost upon each other and then they jumped up and readied themselves to deliver the first of many blows, Thor with his mighty hammer Mjolnir and Hulk with his mighty fists. It was as if time was standing still as they neared the moment they would impact, as if Mother Nature herself was trying with all her might to keep the titanic clash from happening to no avail. Truly, a battle between Thor Odinson and the Incredible Hulk would wreak havoc on the land...at best. Unfortunately, that slowing of time was not to be as the two all-powerful Avengers shattered the ground before them as they charged for each other, their full power behind their awaiting blows. But of course, the Hulk wouldn't be lying if he said he was somewhat anticipating this battle deep down, and even within the confines of his mind control, the same was also able to be said for Thor.

"HAVE AT THEE, MONSTER!"

"HULK SMASH GOLDILOCKS!"

And Nick Fury, having been working with police, SWAT and UN armed personnel all the while to fight off the hordes of Latverian soldiers, could only look on at what was about to happen and mutter, "God help us all."

**KRAKAKAKAKAKAKAKABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!**

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

_**XXXXX-A/N-XXXXX**_

_**Alright, and now things have really gotten bad for the Avengers. Carol and Wanda are out and now it's up to the Hulk to stop a mind controlled Thor. The classic Hulk-Thor Avengers unity battle told with a major twist. Bet you weren't expecting that, were you? Yep, it's Thor who goes on the rampage here, not Hulk. It's an overused concept, Thor and Hulk fighting as the Avengers are starting out, but I feel that this way was a nice twist of things, and plus it would really change the world's views of their newest superhero Thor when they see him like this. Of course, it still might not end up looking good for Hulk, either. A shoutout to aspiringactor for recommending this course of action way back in Chapter 9. It was a fresh idea, having Thor being mind-controlled or going on a rampage, and I thought it would work, especially in this arc.**_

_**Not only that, there seems to be hidden forces at work within the Avengers themselves, and it seems teamwork will start getting harder and harder to keep a hand on...**_

_**The Doombots: in this continuity there are four versions: the Mk1 Doombot, which is the one that looks like Doom himself; the Mk2 Doombot, his more versatile ground troop combat robots, and the Servo-guards of this continuity, based on the Marvel: Avengers Alliance depiction; and the Mk3 Doombot, the larger war machines based on the big robots seen in Avengers: EMH episode "The Private War of Doctor Doom."**_

_**Alright, now be sure to leave a review and some critique, everyone. Especially because of Doctor Doom (who will just be called Victor von Doom in this continuity) and how I wrote him out. He is one of Marvel's best supervillains and I watched "The Private War of Doctor Doom," a number of times to help me in writing him out correctly (since this arc draws quite a bit from that Avengers: EMH episode), but I have no idea if it was good or if I handled him right. So, some critique on Doom's character and persona in this chapter would be well appreciated, especially since we're barely halfway done with this arc and Doom has many more appearances in this arc too. Also, what do you guys think of Doom's plan thus far? How's it working out so far? You think the Avengers can overcome this evil plot to destroy them before they can even truly be a team? If it all seems a bit all over the place, trust me and hold on; there is a purpose for it seeming like that.**_

_**Alright, I'm going to start trying to update this at least once a month, so hopefully I can adhere to that. Classes for me don't start until March, so maybe I can put out a few more for this one before then. I'd like to, but real life is unpredictable so we'll just have to see...I remember I used to update this thing weekly...**_

_**Ok, well, that's all for now. Next issue we continue on with Doom's seemingly random attack, catch up with Spidey, see Hulk &amp; Thor duke it out and the Avengers really starting to break apart. Again, remember to review and critique and the like. Also, check out my new stories, "Marvel Parallels: New Avengers," and "The Last Stand." Until next time, true believers/readers.**_


	13. Teamwork for Dummies! Part 5

_**I've made some adjustments to the story to accommodate for future arcs. I really recommend looking back in the mentioned chapters below to fully grasp what has been changed and such, or just reread everything again:**_

_**1) Stephen Strange is not the current Sorcerer Supreme. That title currently belongs to Jericho Drumm, Brother Voodoo. Strange will be his successor in a future arc. (See Chpt 1 &amp; 9)**_

_**2) Quicksilver, instead of his 90's Avengers Vol 3 look, has the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie costume/look. (See Chpt 2)**_

_**3) Hank Pym, while still known as Yellowjacket, will not wear his Yellowjacket costume, but instead be in his "Wasp" attire (the black; with yellow lines, gauntlets and boots; with the goggles). Hey, if the movie guys can make an evil Yellowjacket with tentacles for a modern take, then I can do the same here with this interpretation. He still has the typical Yellowjacket powers (size alteration stingers, insect communication now provided by the goggles' tech, etc). He keeps the artificial wings for flight when in small size. (See Chpt. 2)**_

_**4) Prior to Nick Fury, the Director of SHIELD was Victoria Hand. She began the concept of the SHIELD Secret Warriors, starting the first unit in the 1980s; she was also responsible for the first S.T.A.R.S. formation. Victoria was Director of SHIELD until 1999, when Fury replaced her. (See Chpt. 6 &amp; 8)**_

_**5) The incident where it is mentioned that at one point Wanda was captured and almost 'Decimated' the mutant race by the Hellfire Club trying to use her powers in that manner...it was foiled by the X-Men and mutantkind is still as numerous as always; the incident allowed for Logan to regain his memories, as it did in the comics post-HoM. (See Chpt 6) I may revisit this for another arc for some SW development.**_

_**6) In accommodation for an "Extremis" arc, Stark no longer has 45 suits, but 22. As in IM3, Stark here has implanted the microchips in himself to allow for remote summoning for his newer armors. Also, regardless of what designs are seen here, the method of Stark putting on his armor is the method used in the MCU, not any bio-armor methods. All models will be revealed in a later chapter (See Chpt. 1, 2 and 12)**_

_**7) Carol actually cares about a secret identity in this universe, and the cowl that comes with the Captain Marvel look is a staple part, keeping anyone from recognizing her. (See Chpt. 2)**_

_**8) The SHIELD Helicarrier is now called the UNS Odyssey. It was built by Forge &amp; Stark Industries in the late 1980s and took flight in the early 1990s. It is based on the Helicarrier from "The Avengers." The Iliad will come at a later date.**_

_**9) To introduce a new origin I planned for a Spidey villain, I changed the method that's keeping him away from the battle. No Doom involvement, no guys in the shadows, just a crime gone wrong (See Chapter 11 &amp; 12)**_

_**Alright, now in regards to characters getting changes in their looks...This story is a modernized retelling of the Marvel-verse. Costumes, attires and the like look more realistic in this time period (hence Logan in the Hugh Jackman appearance). However, even with this, I do so while still trying to remain true to the lore of Marvel itself and true to the characters' personality and character. The X-Men will have their black costumes, the FF will have their Foundation looks with the Foundation also already up and running, etc etc...but these characters will retain their core personalities. Many costumes will still look like the originals from the comics (ie-Spiderwoman; I'm not a fan of her new look…), just made of material that isn't spandex (unless you're Peter, then the spandex is a must).**_

_**Alright, that's enough from me. Last time, Doom turned Thor against the Avengers and now the team's only hope, and the world's, against him is the Incredible Hulk. Of course, not everyone is going to see it that way…**_

_**Also, I found Avengers Vol 1 #1.5 on the Marvel app, where the original five face Doom. Sure to be of help for this arc :D**_

_**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters from media are trademarked by Marvel. Their actions are of my creation and manipulation.**_

* * *

Chapter 13: Teamwork for Dummies! Part 5

* * *

***E52 St and Madison Ave; Midtown, Manhattan***

**8:34 PM EST June 16, 2012**

Despite not having eye-bulging superhuman speed or flight, Peter thought he was pretty quick when it came to web slinging.

He had once swung the entire length of Manhattan in a straight line, point to point of the island, in just under 10 minutes. That had been his fastest time, without stopping to intervene in any crimes or such. Manhattan was just over 13 miles long. After some mental calculations, Peter had determined from that speed and time frame that he could swing at least 80 mph at his fastest.

Of course, that was barring stopping to fight crime, without interruption.

And unfortunately, that was what he had run into when the Amazing Spider-Man had arrived when he was webbing along Madison Avenue, closing in on Park. It seemed a bank robbery had occurred, and the NYPD had been quick to respond, most likely with most out in response to the attack at the UN. Peter knew that the Avengers needed his help in fighting off Victor von Doom, and that they were counting on him.

But, Peter knew that people needed his help down there, too. And no matter what, Peter was a street level superhero and never left the cops to hang dry if he could help it. After all, with great power must come great responsibility.

"Sorry, guys, but these people need my help," Peter murmured to himself. "Just hang in a bit longer."

With a rapid flick of his wrist, Peter again diverted his path from his route to the UN towards the gunfight raging on below in front of the bank. From what he was able to see, multiple squad cars and a SWAT truck were on scene with the cops and SWAT shoot at a group of about seven or eight goons. Despite superior numbers, the cops were getting torn apart by these guys; they had five heavy machine guns, two laser guns and even a bazooka. The thugs apparently just finished off hitting bank and were pinning the police down, trying to set up an escape route.

"Yeesh, talk about scissor beats paper..." Peter mused as he zoomed down onto the scene. He quickly fired web lines and ripped a gun out of one of the thugs' hands, preventing a couple of cops from getting torn to bits. "Guys, guys! C'mon, enough with the shooting here! Think of the property values!"

"It's the Web Freak!" one of the thugs yelled out as he started shooting at him. Immediately both sides took notice of the Amazing Avenger arriving on scene.

"Oh, now that's offensive! I am not a freak at all, my good sir...maybe an occasional jerk and a pest, and Captain Marvel once called me a-"

"Shut up!" the thug ringleader, Mac, yelled in anger as he started shooting at the arachnid. "Shoot this damn creep!" As the others soon started splitting their attention between the cops and Spider-Man, Peter quickly recognized the voice of Mac and couldn't help but let out a loud and over exaggerated sigh.

"Mac Gargan? Really, dude, again?! What is this, like, the ninth time this year ALONE!? We're not even halfway through 2012 yet!"

"Well, it's gonna be different this time, ya stupid-!"

"Like I haven't heard that one before…"

"SHUT UP, YOU STUPID BUG!"

"And again with the 'bug' misconception...Y'know what, I'm not even going to bother this time."

As Spider-Man engaged the heavily armed thugs, they were forced to stop shooting at the police to focus on him. Thus, the cops were finally able to breathe with ease.

"Stand down, boys," came the order of the scene's commanding officer, Lieutenant Jean DeWolff. "The cavalry is here." Though the force was roughly divided in many ways in terms of views on Spider-Man after the deaths of Captain George Stacey &amp; his daughter Gwen within the last five years (and even despite his being an Avenger now), there were still many cops who knew that the Webhead was on their side. Though skeptical in the early days, Jean DeWolff now certainly knew he was the real deal.

"OK, time for some shopping," Peter quipped as he jumped and leapt with pristine agility, easily dodging the many bullets coming his way with his Spider Sense. With a thwip and a flick, he shot a pair of web lines and hooked a pair of heavy machine guns. "I'll take that...and that..." Ripping them out of their hands, Peter quickly threw them to the side and snatched a belt of ammo away as well. "Oh, and this too! Definitely matches my dashing white eyes! Now see, this is much better than online shopping. Amazon is never this exciting with their products!"

Without their toys, the thugs resorted to their fists as they tried to land some punches. Their efforts, however, were in vain. Spider-Man easily avoided their blows while simultaneously keeping himself and said thugs out of the line of fire.

"OK, well that's all I'm buying, gentlemen, so I'll just put these in my cart," Peter continued as he webbed a few more ammo belts and a couple more guns, webbing them to the bank wall with the others he had grabbed. "Oh...crap" he added with a mock gasp as he landed in front of the four now unarmed thugs. "I left my wallet at home...oh well, you all accept IYF's, right?" Peter then quickly delivered rapid punches to their faces, knocking them unconscious. "You know, those new In Your Face things? They are such GREAT money savers!"

"Someone make him shut up!" another thug yelled as he madly shot his laser weapon, blindly firing at the arachnid.

"What is it with people wanting me to surrender my freedom of speech? I feel like society is trying to tell me something...can't put my finger on it, though." With that, he kicked the laser gun out of the thug's hand and webbed both it and him to the bank's glass windows.

His Spider Sense suddenly blaring, Peter just managed to avoid a small missile, which exploded harmlessly in the air seconds later. Mac Gargan had grabbed the bazooka from one of his cohorts, seeking to blow the arachnid up himself. The lead criminal then yelled for the others to keep shooting; of course, this failed miserably as Peter continued to dodge and shoot webs. Within just over a minute, all the other thugs were webbed up with their weapons and ammo taken care of. Only Gargan remained with his bazooka.

"Ok Mac," Peter said as he readied himself. "I think we ALL know how this is going to end. Save yourself the total shame, AGAIN mind you, and just give up. I'm sure your buddies on Ryker's will be thrilled to see you again!" It was then that his Spider Sense began ringing again, and Peter noticed that Gargan was gripping the bazooka tightly...and that there was one more rocket in it. 'Oh no, is he going to...?'

"Yeah, don't think so, Spidey!" Mac snapped back with a feral grin. "You ain't getting me tonight!" With that, he fired the bazooka...right towards the police.

What happened in the next several seconds happened so fast. Without even thinking about the consequences, Peter threw himself after the speeding rocket now heading for the cops. The cops themselves had begun backing away and fleeing in pure shock and terror, seeing the projectile flying towards them. And Mac Gargan threw the bazooka to the side and ran off in a random direction like crazy. It was as if time slowed down in those moments as the police ran for their lives, the Amazing Spider-Man trying to reach the rocket in time, the criminal running for his life, and the groups of people who were watching the whole thing from across the streets.

Doing some quick mental calculations, Peter realized that he wasn't going to physically reach the rocket in time before it hit one of the squad cars and cause a good deal of damage and injuries. So, acting without a second thought, he fired a few web lines and managed to snag onto the rocket. The high velocity of the projectile almost caught Peter off guard but he held firm; with a yell as he landed firmly on the ground, he forced the rocket back as he used his webs to spin it and change course, making it fly off now in a random direction, away from the police.

...and in the direction Mac Gargan was headed.

"Oh god...Mac, wait, no-!" Peter yelled, trying to catapult himself over to the criminal in time.

"No way, freak!" Mac yelled back, just as the rocket reached a parked car that Mac happened to be running right for; in his madness to escape, he didn't see what had just transpired. "Can't just-!"

"MAC, NO!"

**KRABOOOOOMMM!**

"AAAAAAAHHH!"

Mac found himself withering on the pavement in extreme pain as the flames consumed his skin and body, having been caught within the flames of the explosion. By some sick miracle, he had survived being killed, but it seemed as if death would be a much sweeter release. Cursing and screaming and wailing, the criminal continued to burn and wither frantically as Peter and some of the officers dashed for him. They were shocked and horrified by what had transpired before their eyes; none more so than Spider-Man.

"Get the damn fire extinguishers, now!" DeWolff yelled to some other officers. "Get an ambulance down here, and call the fire department!"

"It hurts, it HURTS! God, make it stop, please! MAKE IT STOP!"

"Crapcrapcrapcrap...!" Peter muttered frantically to himself. In an attempt to restrain the burning man, he fired multiple webbings at his arms, pinning him to the ground. His webbing wouldn't last long in the flames; thankfully, the officers who had gone for the fire extinguishers had come back and were now getting to work. The Amazing Avenger could hear sirens in the distance, and hoped the paramedics could save Gargan. "Hang on, Gargan, the paramedics are almost here and they're-!"

"I'm gonna kill you, Webfreak!" Gargan spat vehemently as he screamed in agony, shocking the Webhead with the hate in his pained eyes. "This is your fault, ya hear me!? I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS!"

Peter could only back away in shock and horror as the paramedics and firefighters arrived and got to work. DeWolff, though unable to see the hero's face through the black face mask, could tell that those words had rattled the hero quite a bit. She had seen that the Webhead hadn't meant to redirect the rocket to Gargan's direction. She felt she had to say something...but what?

* * *

***SHIELD Helicarrier UNS Odyssey, entering US.-New York airspace. 1900 ft above sea level***

**8:40 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"I need strike teams at the ready for deployment as soon as we arrive in New York!" Maria Hill yelled out, her voice echoing through her comm and the Helicarrier's Command-&amp;-Control bridge. "I want Mandroid units Three and Seven suiting up and ready to deploy, and I need them yesterday! I want all international UN workers and representatives secured and I want this contained within a two block radius!"

All across the Helicarrier, SHIELD agents and soldiers were moving as fast as they could to follow the Deputy Director's orders; in 24 of the 30 weapons rooms, rapid deployment strike teams were assembling their weapons and their combat gear in preparation for the soon to come battle on their hands. Of the eight 12-man Mandroid platoons stationed on the Helicarrier, two were amassing and securing their armor for rapid deployment. When it came to combating the machinations of Victor von Doom, recognized as one of the world's most dangerous human beings, Maria Hill wanted to no chances to be taken. All resources were currently diverted to focus on the Latverian assault on the United Nations.

"Coulson, what's the status of the Warriors?!" Hill asked Coulson with demand.

"Well, besides the five already on scene with the other Avengers, they're all en route," Coulson replied from his position by the satellite feeds' computers. "Falcon's unit is coming from the HYDRA raid in northern Canada, ETA 10 minutes. Thirteen's unit is en route from-"

"If they can't make it here in less than 10 minutes, I don't want to hear it!" Hill snapped, taking her lover somewhat by surprise. Although, in retrospect it was understandable due to the events going on at this moment. According to the news and satellite feeds, it was utter chaos down there; the Avengers had engaged Victor von Doom immediately upon arrival and were now getting their asses handed to them. Latverian forces continued to wreak havoc as they captured international representatives and teleported away with them to parts unknown. The NYPD, stationed soldiers and UN security were doing their best to fight off these soldiers but Latverian forces were known for having superior technology to most powers on Earth. Hill had been unable to raise Rogers, Barton, Morse, Romanova or Drew on their SHIELD comms at all, further keeping her in the dark on everything going on at the UN.

Thankfully, Fury managed to contact her and gave her the news. She knew that Thor and Hulk were duking it out in Roosevelt Island because of Doom now mind controlling the Asgardian, and that Doom was managing to take the vast majority of the Avengers on at once. What was worse was that Captain Marvel, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver had been incapacitated and Spider-Man was apparently MIA.

This had definitely gotten out of hand, and if the media were any indication, this wasn't looking good for any of the Avengers. This was especially true in regards to the battle between the Hulk and Thor; regardless of the true nature of the battle, all this portrayed was the Hulk going crazy and Thor trying to stop him. Either way, it seemed as if there was strife between the Avengers and that the Hulk was causing problems.

Hill didn't know how it could get any worse.

"Ma'am!" one of the communications techies called out, gaining the attention of Hill and Coulson. "The United States Army Command is on the line! It's General Ross of the HulkBusters, ma'am!"

Apparently, it could...

"I...don't need this," Hill muttered darkly as she pinched the bridge of her nose, before ordering the techy to patch the call through. On her Deputy Director's stand, a feed screen hologram came to life and on it was the furious face of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, leader of the HulkBusters Corps.

"General Ross," Hill all but snarled as she narrowed her eyes at him, simultaneously keeping eye contact while continuing to organize &amp; coordinate the SHIELD response. "I haven't got the patience or time to deal with you right now, so if you could-"

"Good, then just listen," the hardened general interrupted with his own attitude and Alpha male character, instantly clashing with Hill. "You're obviously dealing with the Latverian show of force at the UN. I'll leave you with that in your hands; what I'm more concerned about is how the Hulk is battling a member of the Avengers on Roosevelt Island and creating untold destruction! While the other damn supers are losing against Doom, the Hulk is-!"

"Ross, you have no idea whatsoever as to why the Hulk is-!"

"He's a damn monster destroying a residential area where hundreds live and the only thing stopping him from causing more untold destruction is another of those damn self-proclaimed world protectors!" Ross was clearly a man on a mission, a mission that Hill knew all too well of since she first became SHIELD Deputy Director under Fury in 2006. And she knew that what Ross was about to do would throw in a monkey wrench into the chaos and worsen things even more. "The UN World Security Council officially gave us back the Hulk a month ago before the invasion, so in all legal sense-!"

"General Ross, you are in no position to do anything at this moment! The Hulk is a member of the Avengers and he is currently the only thing keeping a possessed being of literal godlike power from destroying all of New York City! But more importantly, SHIELD is in control and in command of the situation at hand! You are ORDERED by the power of SHIELD and the United Nations to stand down! Clause 201-7 states-!"

"You are only in command of scenarios such as these until the local military and government no longer requires your services, Hill," Ross snapped back, sneering inside as he brought up one of the legalities of SHIELD. "And as of fifteen minutes ago, the President has ordered the Hulk taken down. Effective immediately, the HulkBusters Corps are taking command of this situation, Hill. My troops are already evacuating the islands, and the HulkBusters units are en route. Stay out of our way."

With that, the call went dead. And with it, any chance that this whole thing couldn't get any worse.

"Coulson, get the American President on the line," Hill ordered the veteran agent as she faced him. "I don't care what you do or how you do it, but get her to stop Ross ASAP. Get Sitwell up here, too. I need him here, now." She then looked out the glass panels serving as the command bridge's windows, seeing the celestial thunder dancing in the heavens in rhythm to the brawl between the Hulk and Thor; and in the glow of the lightning, she could make out several fleets of choppers heading towards the East River, in the direction of Roosevelt Island.

"This is not going to end well..."

* * *

***United Nations complex, Manhattan***

**8:45 PM EST June 16, 2012**

To say that the battle wasn't going so well for the Avengers was definitely an understatement.

"HANK!" Jan cried out as her husband crashed into the side of the United Nations Building. His 20 foot form was soon followed by that of Iron Man, Stark letting out a very loud scream of pain. This didn't deter him, though, as he shot out of his self-made crater only several seconds later, repulsors on full blast as he aimed at Victor von Doom, soon slamming back into him. He was soon joined by an angry Wasp as she zoomed in with her stingers on full power.

Hank, meanwhile, managed to stand back up, shrinking back down to regular size. "Doctor Pym," T'Challa called out as he hurried over to his ally. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Pym groaned as he popped his arm back, a painful experience no matter how many times he did it since he learned the tactic. "Thankfully, my headgear is still intact, because we're going to need some help…"

The cybernetics in his goggles activating, the genius scientist gave one command in the descending mouthpiece: attack. Growing back to a height of 20 feet, Yellowjacket roared as he charged back into the fray, a horde of millions of flying insects soon following behind him. T'Challa hesitated for only a second before he dashed after him, daggers in hand.

Less than twenty minutes had passed since Doom had engaged the Avengers at the United Nations, and he was confident in saying that his plans were going in his favor. He had reaped disunity amongst the Avengers already, and he was simultaneously tainting their image. The monarch's plan of breaking the Avengers inside and out was coming together nicely. These fools thought they could keep his world from him? They were now seeing just how wrong they were to challenge Doom as they had.

Doom's thoughts were interrupted as the horde of insects summoned by Pym began consuming him and swarming over upon him, thus forcing him to releasing a choking Spider Woman from his grip. Being the prideful monarch, to be taken upon by insects was something Doom wouldn't stand for; with a few chanted words, a massive energy pulse rang outward from his armor, thus dispersing the insects. The distraction proved effective enough, though, as Pym landed two powerful punches and forcefully drove the monarch into the ground. Panther then came in and slashed away with his daggers madly and with precision before Doom blasted him off.

Yellowjacket, Wasp and Iron Man then followed up with a barrage of their energy attacks in an attempt to keep Doom pinned for the others to strike in close quarters. That was not to be, however, as Doom activated his magical shields to block the energy attacks. With powerful electrical lightning strikes, he struck Stark and the Pyms down, their screams of pain echoing in the chaos of the night skies.

This now left Doom free to handle the other Avengers in melee combat, all of whom were rushing at him. It proved to be excellent timing in his favor as Wolverine lunged with savage claw swings; Doom managed to bring up his gauntlets in defense in time, blocking the strikes. His armor, though very similar in technology to Stark's, was also able to withstand Logan's blows being mystically forged. Focused in that second on keeping Logan at bay, though, Doom was unable to block the bum rushing tackle Spider Woman managed from behind.

In that slight moment Doom staggered forward, Black Widow struck as she jumped onto his back, quickly bringing out an adamantium garrote wire and forcing Doom's head upward. Instinctively, Doom grabbed at Widow's arms and at Widow herself; this had the desired effect as Hawkeye got in two clean shots with impact arrows. Unfortunately, Logan and T'Challa had made to slash away at the monarch's armors at that exact moment, and had been caught in the sonic blasts of the arrow's explosions.

Laughing at this, Doom then activated his armor's electrical defenses, unleashing a vicious electrical current, shocking Natalia badly and sending her falling to the ground screaming...or she would've if Doom had not grabbed her by the arm and thrown her into an oncoming Spider Woman. As he blasted them both with an arcane bolt from his gauntlet, Mockingbird attacked as she merged her battle staves into a pole, landing a hard pole vault kick on Doom's mask. She was rewarded swiftly as Doom grabbed her arm and slammed her into the ground, earning a barrage of explosive arrows from Hawkeye.

Shielding himself from the first two, Doom effortlessly redirected the rest back at the Avengers. Morse and Romanova returned to engage in close quarters, quickly and savagely dealing all forms of hits and strikes as per the training drilled into them. Unfortunately, Doom's armor prevented them from being of any significance. Wasp's enlarged fist, however, did do something as Doom was slammed into the ground. Stark send a number of missiles racing for the monarch, but they were easily destroyed by electrical blasts. Sending Widow and Mockingbird flying with swift punches, Doom fired another burst of electricity at a charging Wolverine, electrocuting him and rendering him momentarily unconscious.

A haymaker from seemingly nowhere sent Doom flying into the thundering night sky, courtesy of Hank Pym. All the Avengers who were able to do so began a relentless firing barrage up at him, unleashing everything they had. They were able to land a few good hits before the Latverian brought up his shields again. Now protected, Doom activated his armor's flight and began his own relentless barrage of electrical and arcane blasts, beginning a vicious exchange of attacks as the Avengers did all in their power to try and force Doom down.

Meanwhile, Captain America had carried both Maximoff twins towards the paramedics and police barricade set up as the temporary command post. Having managed to head over to Quicksilver and get him out of harm's way, Steve had decided to get the twins to safety to allow them time to recuperate from their unconscious states. To his dismay, he had been unable to reach the still unconscious Captain Marvel.

Quickly assessing the battlefield after handing the twins to the paramedics, Steve saw that the Avengers were getting decimated. With three of the team out cold, two laying waste on a nearby island and one apparently MIA, the situation wasn't looking too well.

The only good news at the moment was that SHIELD had arrived on scene to reinforce the NYPD engaging the Latverian soldiers, with Fury on the front lines. What was bad, however, was that though many international representatives and workers had been evacuated, a number had still been captured. The Latverian soldiers had stopped capturing bystanders, but were now fully focused on battling their enemies.

A sudden gasp from behind him made him return his attention to the mutants behind him. Pietro had suddenly jolted awake, panting and breathing heavily. "Wanda!" he gasped, searching around for his sister frantically before seeing her unconscious form beside him on a stretcher, several paramedics tending to her. "Wanda! Is she-?!"

"She's still unresponsive," one of the paramedics replied as he got a defibrillator out. "We're still trying to get her conscience again, but it might take a while."

"Pietro," Steve called, regaining the Silver Avenger's attention. "Are you ok?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, Captain," Pietro replied dismissively, returning his attention to his sister. "It's Wanda I'm concerned about. Dammit, when I get my hands on Doom...!"

"Stand down, Pietro," Steve interrupted, anger in his voice. "You're working with a team now, so it's not 'I,' it's 'we.' Remember that next time." Despite a nod of an affirmative, Pietro shot him an angry look, but Cap didn't give a damn. The speedster's reckless actions earlier could've gone south for himself and the team. Steve would definitely have words with him later about that.

Back on the battlefield, a blast from an arcane attack struck where Logan had been lying unconscious, sending the Mutant Avenger flying. The blast, while burning away half his uniform, also managed to jolt him back into consciousness, albeit painfully. Landing with a thud by Mockingbird's defensive position behind some rubble, he quickly assessed the situation. With he and Morse the only two of the battling Avengers unable to attack Doom while he was airborne, they could do nothing.

"So...this looks pretty bad," Logan mused as Steve and Pietro came over to their position. "We're not even tirin' his ass."

"That's not the worst of it," Steve replied. "We're stretched thin, with two of our best guns in a death brawl and the other two out cold." As if to punch in the point, a massive lightning bolt flashed across the sky. "Not to mention Spider-Man is still MIA." The Super Soldier turned to Logan. "Logan, you vouched for him and said that he'd be a great addition to the team. So far, I'm not impressed."

"Trust me, Rogers, if he ain't here," Logan countered, the brutal collision of Iron Man's uni-beam hitting Doom's arcane blasts ringing in the skies, "there's a damn good reason. He's probably caught up with another crime or somethin.'"

"Regardless, I'd rather him be here-"

"How about less arguing and more fighting!?" Wasp yelled in agitation as she landed with a hard and painful thud beside them before growing to 20 feet and jumped at Doom with a glowing fist, only to be swatted aside by a powerful backhand strike. This forced Hawkeye and Widow, who were making to utilize a combined assault tactic, to scramble before the Wasp squashed them. This proved to hinder Stark as he had chosen that moment to fire his repulsors. Jan had ended up being caught in the attack, sending her crashing into the ground in pain.

Steve continued, "We need to force Doom back down here as well, if we're all going to be able to defeat him as a team. The four of us can't help the others with Doom airborne."

"I think I got an idea," Logan replied with a smirk as he unleashed his claws once again. "Yer throwin' arm still good?" At that, Cap could only smirk.

"JARVIS, direct full power to the uni-beam!" Tony roared as he slammed his metallic fists repeatedly into Doom's armored face, the monarch having grabbed the Armored Avenger by his neck. Within seconds, the arc in the Avenger's chest whined to life as a powerful blast exploded outwards, forcing Doom to release his grip as he was sent flying.

As he managed to regain his momentum, Spider Woman blasted him with her venom blasts, yelling out "Alpha Tango Triad!" as she then delivered a savage axe kick onto Doom's shoulder followed by a flurry of punches, sending the Latverian plummeting down. This was the cue for Hawkeye and Black Widow to open fire with everything in their arsenal at the falling form of Doom, with a few grenades and explosive arrows to give the finishing touch.

Unfortunately, that was the precise moment when Cap and Wolverine launched their "Fastball Special," with the mutant Avenger flying through the air at a rapid speed for the monarch. Seeing the opportunity presented to him, Doom grabbed Logan's outstretched arms, claws and all, as he was falling and thrust him down for the two SHIELD agents. The X-Man yelled in pain and fury as he was blasted with bullets, arrows and stinger blasts. Doom then managed to regain his footing and landed gracefully back onto the ground. With a wave of his arcane-infused hand, he sent Logan flying towards the two SHIELD agents. Natalia managed to dodge the incoming hit, but Barton wasn't as lucky or as agile, with Logan's claws embedded in his shoulder when the mutant landed on him. Doom then sent a massive blast of energy at the two of them while sending the Russian Avenger flying up into a charging Jess.

"Pathetic," Doom chuckled. The Avengers were making it too easy for him.

"Well...that didn't work," Morse stated.

"No, it didn't," Rogers agreed as he mentally swore. This had just presented another problem now: the Avengers who were also agents of SHIELD had a wealth of formations and combo strikes they had to utilize with each other against Doom. But the rest of the Avengers had no knowledge of the agents' tactics or training.

In fact, Cap could easily see now a major problem as Wasp zoomed forward with her stingers on full power, just as the Avenger again charged towards Doom. He could see it as both Pyms began a stinging bombardment just as Black Widow was about to jump kick Doom. The Russian Avenger was caught in the barrage of attacks, breaking her momentum and allowing Doom to grab her and throw her at an incoming Wolverine, claws at the ready. Logan hastened to stop his own attack and grab Natalia instead, and that was all the opportunity Doom needed to strike the two with an arcane blast.

Steve saw that the team had nearly no coordination with each other. Those who had prior connections with others were sticking to tactics comfortable with each other. Stark had no idea how the SHIELD agents fought, Logan had no idea how the Pyms fought, and the agents had no idea how T'Challa fought.

And Doom was clearly using it against them, and succeeding. He was turning their own teamwork against the Avengers, making them return to their independent styles. He was tearing them apart.

Steve had to admit, begrudgingly, that it was genius.

Iron Man fired at the Latverian Monarch from above with his uni-beam. Doom was caught in the downward blast, crying out in pain and agony for a good few moments before his shields again kicked in and he met the blast head on with his own powerful electrical blasts. Wasp chose the moment to strike in surprise, which also happened to be the time T'Challa attacked with his daggers again. The Wakandan Avenger screamed out in pain and surprise as he was caught alongside Doom in the attack. The Latverian grabbed the Wakandan and threw him into the Wasp.

The world famous shield then struck Doom on the head, sending him staggering a few steps. That was all the time needed for a rapid combo of punches to be delivered. As the Latverian began to regather his bearing, his torso was struck with a jumping kick, courtesy of Morse' pole vault attack.

"You continue to test my patience," Doom remarked as his arcane blasts caught Panther's daggers and then blasted the Wakandan Avenger. "You Avengers continue to try and defy me, and yet you cannot succeed. I am your better, your conqueror. Nothing you can do will stop Doom."

"Well, forgive us if we want to keep trying," Iron Man yelled before he slammed himself into Doom, using his uni-beam to him force the Latverian Monarch into a powerful impact on the ground. With a resonating impact, the Armored Avenger successfully managed to do so, and quickly continued to fire his repulsors as he tried to keep Doom forcibly on his back. Of course, Victor von Doom would have none of this, and quickly engaged Stark in a mix of melee and up-close ranged combat. The metallic ringing of gauntlets echoed as their fists were exchanged, and explosions rang out as Stark fired his repulsors and missiles, with Doom firing his electrical and arcane blasts.

As the two armored beings battled, Jan, Pym, Barton, Romanova and Jess immediately began a bombardment of their own, aiming to strike at Victor von Doom while he was distracted by Stark's attack. They hadn't agreed to it, but it seemed like an excellent idea to take advantage of Doom's lack of attention.

Unfortunately, Captain America saw that that was a bad idea. "No, all of you, cease fire-!"

"AAAARGGHH!"

His warnings came too late, however, as Doom grabbed Stark by the armored neck and forced him around, effectively using him as a shield against the other Avengers' attacks. Taken by surprise, Stark didn't call up his shields in time and his armor was rattled.

Doom moved quickly as he blasted Stark towards Spiderwoman and Wasp, both airborne. Pym went into giant mode and lumbered forward, only to be bombarded and struck down by debris Doom sent flying to him. Black Widow and Hawkeye began firing again at Doom, only to hit Quicksilver as he sped in to deliver a flurry of punches. Yelling in pain from the stinger blasts and arrows that struck him, Pietro couldn't stop Doom as he grabbed the Silver Avenger and threw him back at the two SHIELD agents, who barely dodged.

Captain America and Mockingbird raced forward, shield and staves at the ready. Steve flung his shield, but Doom managed to blast it back with an arcane bolt. Morse avoided Doom's electrical blasts with a skid before attempting a sweep kick, but Doom easily sidestepped her attack before delivering a powerful punch, sending her flying into Cap.

"This is truly pathetic...you Avengers are writing your own defeat!" the Latverian roared as he unleashed a surge of electrical energy, sending the two flying. Doom grabbed a pouncing Logan and threw him at an incoming T'Challa. He activated his shields to keep Jan and Jess' blasts at bay. "Do you not see how you cannot mount a successful attack upon me, what with you-"

**KRAKAKOOOM!**

"DOOOOOMMMM!"

Victor von Doom turned his gaze upwards to see a golden missile-like object blast from the ground into the air. Captain Marvel had regained consciousness.

In the blink of an eye, he was slammed back into the ground by the fully powered heroine. Her glowing fists delivered precise haymakers as she repeatedly punched him before she flew back up and fired a photonic blast into his armored face.

"YOU DARE?!" Doom roared as he aimed a pulsating gauntlet at Carol. Before he could fire, though, he was suddenly engulfed in a mini cyclone of fists and kicks, courtesy of Quicksilver.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?!" Carol yelled in a mix of fury and glee. Pietro phased back into existence as he took a battle ready stance alongside Captain America, Widow, Hawkeye and Mockingbird, albeit he was still in pain from the friendly fire moments ago. Spider Woman and Wasp joined Carol, all three with their fists glowing.

Doom stood back up, took a look at the heroes standing before him, and then a look at the other heroes who were struggling to stand back up. He smirked, his gauntlets pulsating once more with electrical and arcane energy.

"I will admit, you possess more fight than the Fantastic Four," Doom said. "However, it will not help you here in any way."

With that, he began firing another series of blasts at the now charging Avengers.

* * *

***Roosevelt Island, East River, New York***

**8:52 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"WHY-?!"

**KATHOOOOM!**

"-DON'T YOU-"

**FRAKAKOOOOM!**

"-STAY DOWN?!"

**SHRAKAKOOOOMMM!**

"THE SON OF ODIN DOES NOT YIELD TO THE LIKES OF YOU, CREATURE!"

The skies again roared with thunder as Thor slammed Mjolnir across the Hulk's face, having just taken a trio of punches himself. Unrelenting in his assault, Thor repeated the blow several times as he brought his weapon down again and again. Each impact unleashed a powerful resonating shockwave that rang out for miles. Just as the Asgardian Avenger was about to deliver what he hoped would be the killing blow, the Incredible Avenger slammed his two meaty fists into the former's face, Mjolnir dropping from his hand. Thor staggered back in surprise from the impact, and Hulk jumped on that moment and slammed the Asgardian into the ground.

Hulk then began viciously beating into Thor's face and torso, forcing a bigger crater into the ground with each blow. Hulk then made to use his large foot to further land a massive blow, but Thor then took those few seconds to summon his hammer. The mighty weapon zoomed for him, hitting the Hulk in the small (?) of his back and sending him crashing into the crater walls. Grabbing Mjolnir, Thor summoned a mass of lightning bolts and fused them into one massive surge of electricity, all directed to the Hulk.

The crater was engulfed in a massive blast of celestial lightning, blasting it into larger size and striking the Incredible Hulk. The pure power of the bolt tore up massive chunks of grass, rock, concrete and stone; the entirety of Roosevelt Island shook from the impact, houses across the island shaking and quaking and the echoing of car alarms screaming into the night skies. Chaos swamped the streets and people and civilians fled in all directions, the battle sending them into utter terror.

At last, Thor stopped the lightning strike. He was confident that the bolt had handled the creature he had been fighting, and would then proceed to handle the others who had been chosen for death. A vicious roar, however, shook him from his thoughts. Turning to the center of the now smoking crater, Thor was shocked to see the smoking and charred, but very much alive, body of the Incredible Hulk, standing and snarling at him as his cooked flesh molded under his healing factor.

"That...made...me...MAD!" the titan roared before surging forward and delivering a massive haymaker onto Thor's jaw. His weapon again dropped, Thor could only use his own two hands and the godly strength behind them to engage Hulk in a battle of pure brute strength. The exchanged blows caused rippling shockwaves to form and streak across the land, their sheer force destroying everything in their path.

The park that the Incredible Hulk had managed to slam Thor into from the United Nations on Roosevelt Island was quickly being torn apart as the two titans continued to fight, trying to subdue the other. It was a ghastly sight to behold, as the two Avengers fought with all their power washing out. Already, the park had basically become a sheer wasteland, but for the Hulk, it was better that it was in the park and not in the actual streets where civilians could be hurt or killed. As per the Avengers' plan, he was doing his best to keep this battle contained here in the park, away from any innocents. He knew that with Thor having just as much power as his, and perhaps even more, he was currently the only one able to stop him right now, or at least have a chance.

In all essence, Hulk was the only defense the city had against Victor von Doom's newest weapon.

Unfortunately, the people he was protecting didn't see it that way. Nor did the dozen or so news choppers filming the battle from the skies, broadcasting it to the entire world. To the entirety of the Earth, thanks to the reputation that Bruce Banner was tainted with, it looked as if Thor was battling an out of control Hulk.

And no one believed this more that General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross. "Talbot, what's the status of civilian evac?"

"We're reaching the last few neighborhoods now, sir," a man in his thirties with a black mustache replied through his comm as he directed a large group of civilians to an army truck. Currently clothed in dark green and black mecha-armor and armed with a heavy duty machine gun, Major Glenn Talbot waved the truck off to proceed with evacuation. "ETA should be about five to ten more minutes."

"Very well," Ross replied. He was currently in dark army fatigues and chomping on his cigarette, binoculars in his hands as he looked at the battle at the southern island tip from his position on a small hill. Looking up to the skies, the general saw a multitude of highly advanced attack choppers racing down towards the battle site, each one the proud product of Hammer Industries' best technology. The rumbling ground at his feet alerted him that his Corps' tanks were now on the move, each one powerful and well equipped with cannons and machine guns. And he could easily see the dark green and black of the mecha-armors Hammer Industries had also provided his troops, each one fully capable and durable for combat with the Hulk. At his back was a massive dark green Stryker Command Vehicle, manned by 12 men and four gunners.

This was the pride and joy of "Thunderbolt" Ross. This was the sixth branch of the US Armed Forces: the United States HulkBusters Corps, formed to capture and kill the Incredible Hulk since 2004.

"Talbot, listen up," Ross continued, "hand all remaining evac back to the local cops; they can handle the rest on their own from here on out. I want you to head the ground units; Air One will be heading the aerial units. Use formation Delta Typhoon-67. Keep this contained and, no matter what, I want this to end tonight. Bring down the Hulk, no matter what it takes!"

"Yes sir." With that, Talbot switched comms and called upon his partner-in-arms. "Ground One to Air One, the OK just came in from Thunderbolt. We have the green light to engage. Repeat, we're clear to engage."

"Copy that, Ground 1," replied the voice of HulkBuster Corps Pilot Captain William "Wild Bill" Gregory, currently flying a HulkBuster attack chopper. In sharp contrast to his fellow soldiers and men, Gregory wore standard Texas Ranger/cowboy attire, reminiscent of his days with the Texas Rangers.

"Air One to all HB Helis, proceed to Kill-Zone. Green Light is confirmed, repeat, Green Light is confirmed. All packages, ready to engage; strike on Thunderbolt's order. Entering the Kill-Zone...now!" With that, all airborne HulkBuster units began quickly closing in onto the island's park, heading right into the carnage that both Hulk and Thor were causing.

At the same time, Talbot also gave his orders to the ground troops of the USHBC, with the tanks and foot soldiers surging forward with their weapons ready and loaded. Back in his HB Stryker, Ross was already barking orders for his men to follow them. The general chomped on his cigar, refusing to accept loss as an answer this time. The UN had granted him the return of the Hulk, and he was not about to let this go on any further. It was time Banner learned his place and purpose.

One way or another, General Ross was determined to finally bring down and bring in the Hulk, regardless of the cost.

Back in what was left of the park, Hulk blocked another strike from the Asgardian Avenger's first, ramming his own thick head into Thor's. He crashed into the ground with a thunderous impact, his winged helmet falling into the dirt with a very noticeable dent in it.

_"This is getting really tedious,"_ Banner mused in their shared mindscape.

"You're telling me," Hulk muttered in reply as he raised his two fists back into the air, ready to lay another smashing blow.

...before a trio of missiles suddenly arrived on scene, exploding violently on both him and the ground below, but somehow missing Thor. The Incredible Avenger was sent flying into the air before crashing heavily onto the ground several dozen meters away. His flesh burned once again and with a small ringing in his ears, the Hulk slowly got back from the small crater he had crater. With a loud grunt, he turned to the direction the missiles came from before snarling in rage. He didn't need this, not now of all times...

_'Oh, you have got to be kidding..."_ Bruce muttered.

"Ross," was all the Hulk snarled. They should've known.

Rumbling in the skies and on the ground, the battalions of the HulkBusters Corps began surging forward, their weapons at the ready as the tanks and helicopters advanced. The soldier platoons could be seen behind them, as could the hulking form of the HB Stryker Command Vehicle, where both Banner and Hulk knew Ross was in. And sure enough...

"All HulkBuster units," Ross yelled into his radio comm. "OPEN FIRE!"

As one force, the HulkBuster tanks and choppers began attacking, their cannons and missiles and machine guns lighting up the destroyed area. Instinctively, Hulk raised his arm to cover his face, even though he knew none of their weapons could harm him. The missiles exploded both upon and around him, blinding him with smoke and debris as the resulting flames burned him again. Roars of fury echoed across the park as Ross' forces continued their assault.

"Ground troops, prepare to move in!" Talbot called out, motioning for his men to advance.

They never got the chance as a powerful shockwave rang out, quickly dispersing the heavy smoke that had surrounded the Hulk. With a powerful and earsplitting roar, Hulk charged forward, ignoring all the bullets and shells hitting him, and slammed his fists into the first tank he caught. The impact send the tank crashing backwards into two others, the first exploding violently as the latter collapsed violently into the ground.

The HB choppers retaliated with heavy missile bombardment, which Hulk took head on. This was something he definitely had no need for right now. It seemed that the Army wasn't exactly taking his fight with Thor sitting down; for all he knew, they thought he was going out of control again and Thor was trying to stop him. Grabbing a nearby tank, the Incredible Avenger ripped off its cannon before shoving it aside. He then threw the cannon into the chopper fleet above him, managing to destroy one and crippling two others.

The ground troops then began advancing, their weapons firing away as the tanks and choppers gave support. Unwilling to hurt the humans trying to bring him down, Hulk simply slammed his fist into the ground, sending a gaping fissure their way to force the soldiers to flee while simultaneously trapping a few of the tanks. With a powerful jump, Hulk grabbed one of the retreating tanks and threw it towards the somewhat distant HB Stryker Command. The armored vehicle was just barely able to escape the incoming metallic projectile.

Ross swore. He was not going to let Hulk best him once again.

As Hulk continued to battle the HulkBusters, Thor got back up to his feet. Shaking his head and grabbing Mjolnir, he looked up and took in the scenes of battle before him. Unfortunately, the Asgardian was still under the effects of Doom's mind control spell, and as such he was still under the command to destroy the Avengers. He had been engaged with one of them, the monster known as the Hulk, who was now in battle with an army of mortal men. This did not sit well with the Odinson; his master had commanded him to make the kill, and as the Norse God of Thunder and a true warrior of Asgard, arguably the greatest, he refused to let the honor of victory and the rush of the kill be ripped away from him.

**KRAKAOOOMM!**

Hulk was suddenly sent flying as Thor flew into him in full force, hammer in hand as he struck the Hulk. The Incredible Avenger was sent flying into the skies, where Thor chased him and struck him back down into the ground with a powerful hammer blow. As Hulk crashed, Thor followed with a powerful slamming kick right into his face.

"No mortal shall rob me of my victory, brute," Thor snarled as he raised Mjolnir again for another blow. "The Avengers are MINE to destroy!" He brought down his arm to slam the Hulk's face with his hammer, but Hulk grabbed his wrist, keeping the weapon from striking. Hulk immediately noticed how difficult it was to keep the Thunderer's arm at bay.

"Shove it up yours, Goldilocks!" Hulk roared as he slammed his other fist into Thor's face, sending him skywards. As the Asgardian quickly rectified himself midair, Hulk jumped after him with his fists at the ready. Thor met him head on, both titans impacting powerfully with their blows before they both crashed back into the ground.

"Sir," Talbot barked into his comm. "The Avenger Thor just returned back onto the scene, and just reengaged the Hulk!"

"I see that Talbot. This changes nothing; our target is still the Hulk. If that Thor guy is going to be fighting him, too, then that just makes it easier. The Hulk can't fight us as much if he's focused on the Avenger. Take advantage of the distraction and proceed as planned, soldier!"

"Copy that."

"Aerial units, proceed with Delta-Typhoon formation!" Wild Bill barked before leading his air battalions to another strike. Their machine guns roaring to life once more, the HulkBuster choppers reengaged their target, bombarding the Hulk with their bullets. The whines of rocket-propelled engines soon followed as their missiles soon joined the fray, striking heavily and explosively. The tanks began creating a circular formation as they began attacking from all sides, allowing no possible escape from any side. Hulk roared in fury as he tried to both battle Thor and protect himself from the vicious and continuous bombardment of the HulkBusters.

All the HulkBusters were now raining metallic hell onto the Incredible Hulk...and also the Mighty Thor.

"You DARE?!" Thor yelled out as he turned upwards towards the HulkBusters. Their bullets and missiles meant less than nothing to him, for no mortal weapon could fell the Son of Odin. But they dared to try and lay claim to his battle, to his quarry...his victory?! "HAVE AT THEE!"

Wild Bill blinked.

"OH, SHI-!" was all that could be heard as the pilot barely managed to veer his chopper out of the way of Mjolnir. Unfortunately, the two behind him had not been so fortunate. With a devastating explosion, Thor's hammer destroyed the attack choppers, both breaking apart and crashing viciously onto the ground below. It was clear that the pilots didn't have a chance to escape or parachute out. For all they knew, they were dead and burning.

"What the-?!" Talbot cried out, horror creeping into his voice and mind. All his fellow HulkBusters stood slack jawed in horror.

"You mortals have interfered in Asgardian affairs for the last time!" Thor roared as his weapon returned to him. The skies began rumbling and crackling with thunder and lightning again, just as vicious as last time.

"What in God's name-?!" Ross cried out, his face covered in shock, as was those of the rest of the crew in the Stryker. "What the hell just happened-?! That damn-?!" He had just witnessed one of the Avengers, one of the superheroes, a brand new superhero just possibly murder several of his men. Words had escaped him upon seeing this.

Even the Hulk had frozen in utter shock at what had just happened.

Thor, however, continued with what he was going to do to these mortals. He would not allow them to take his glory, his victory. "You mortals will learn the price to pay this night for seeking to take victories that are not yours! Face the wrath of Mjolnir!" he roared as he charged forward, heading right for the HulkBusters tanks, the hammer in his hands aglow with power. The Norse God of Thunder, under the control of Victor von Doom's spell, was out for blood.

"Stop him! Take him down! DO SOMETHING!" Talbot yelled out desperately as Thor slammed Mjolnir into one of the tanks. It was sent flying the full distance of the island, crashing violently into an abandoned house. The crew barely managed to escape the wreckage of their war machine before it exploded and blew apart.

The HulkBusters suddenly found themselves forced to engage the Asgardian Avenger, and they did not like the turn of events. Bullets and missiles were fired in desperation as the soldiers tried to both attack and retreat at the same time, wanting to avoid the wrath of the Thunder God. Unfortunately, their weapons had no effect on the Asgardian; bullets just flicked off of his impenetrable skin, and while shells and missiles impacted him with explosive results, they did little to slow him down or deter him.

Thor, however, was easily able to bring destruction upon the HulkBusters, and he was demonstrating it quite easily. Summoning the lightning that was his to command, the Asgardian struck at many of the choppers with the electrical surges, making them all explode and crash down, their pilots barely managing to eject in time. Wild Bill tried his best to get his aerial battalions to re-engage properly against their opponent, shooting everything in his arsenal at the Avenger. Several of the choppers joined with their field leader, but they couldn't harm Thor.

Against the tanks, Thor went more physical as he easily grabbed them and slammed them against each other, no regards for the crew within. With Mjolnir in hand, Thor would also whack away the tanks as they tried to shoot him down. No matter how much the tanks tried to push Thor back with retaliatory fire, Thor would not stop attacking them.

In desperation, the ground troops fired their guns at the Asgardian, but this proved to be less than ineffective. No bullet or rocket or grenade was able to do anything...except gain Thor's attention to them. With a roar, Thor jumped towards them, making to slam Mjolnir into them. Panicking, the soldiers scattered and ran, but the impact and seismic waves of Thor's attack hitting the ground caught many of them, nonetheless. They were all sent flying forward, landing painfully on the war-torn grounds of the park. Their armors were chipped and damaged, their helmets broken. Talbot had been one of those caught in the blast, and had the unfortunate luck to be the closest to Thor. The soldier froze as he saw Thor menacingly lumber towards him, hammer crackling with power and the intent written on his face to send Talbot into oblivion and to his maker.

And Talbot would've indeed possibly met his maker...had a jade colored body not slammed itself onto the Asgardian, sending the Avenger crashing into the ground. With a powerful punch from a gamma-empowered fist, Thor was slammed deeper into the ground before he was grabbed in a holding lock made of powerful green muscles.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" the Incredible Hulk roared to the soldiers. "NOW!"

Major Glenn Talbot didn't need to be told twice.

"All units, fall back now!" he yelled into his earpiece. No member of the HulkBusters Corps present hesitated to obey as the remaining tanks and choppers quickly turned on their heels and sped away, not even bothering with cover fire. The ground troops also began running as fast as they could, some even dropping their weapons. Screw the voice of "Thunderbolt" Ross yelling in their ears. As far as Wild Bill and Talbot were concerned, they were alive to be chewed out. That was good enough for them.

With the HulkBusters were finally getting out of the way, Hulk was finally free again to focus solely on Thor, and he took full advantage. Even after everything that Ross and the HulkBusters Corp had done to him and done to ruin his life, the Hulk would not let Thor try to kill them all.

With a powerful thunderclap, the Incredible Avengers sent the God of Thunder flying again as the latter made to come in with a powerful hammer strike. Unwilling to be deterred, Thor quickly rectified himself and simply sent Mjolnir crashing into the Hulk. Taking advantage of the Hulk staggering under the blow, Thor bum rushed the titan and slammed him into the ground, quickly unleashing a powerful series of punches and strikes onto Hulk's face. Mjolnir quickly returning to his hand, Thor then continued with a vicious hammer strike, the skies roaring with lightning in tune with the hit. Roaring, Hulk retaliated with a vicious headbutt, sending the Asgardian staggering.

Quickly pressing his advantage, the titan delivered a mighty haymaker, sending Thor crashing downwards where the Hulk's foot was waiting to kick him right in the face. Before Thor could be sent soaring, his hammer falling out of his hand, Hulk grabbed his cape and used it to slam Thor face first onto the ground again. Thor quickly reacted with a sweep kick, sending the Hulk

Thor then noticed that the HulkBusters had by now retreated a considerable distance away. Looking quickly between them and the now roaring and charging Hulk, he smirked before readying to meet the gamma-powered beast. He unleashed a war cry as he began twirling Mjolnir in his hand. The Asgardian was infuriated that the mortals had tried to interfere with his battle, but he still had a duty to perform in destroying the Avengers.

And this brutish monster had been willing to be the first of them to approach the slaughter. Who was Thor to deny him his desire to be the first to welcome Hela's embrace?

With a jumping leap, Hulk made to deliver his signature strike. "HULK SMASH-!"

"I SAY THEE NAY!" Thor retorted as he struck first, strike with a spinning hammer blow into Hulk's chest. The wind knocked out of him, Hulk had no chance to react as Thor began summoning a vicious storm of winds, encompassing him within a cyclone that slowly began sucking him into the air. Thor flew up as the Hulk went higher, bombarding him with several lightning blasts from his hammer. Hulk roared defiantly, sending a wave of sonic blasts with his thunderclaps in retaliation. Before he could do anything else, though, Thor suddenly rushed in and slammed the Hulk right in the head with Mjolnir. The force was so great that not only did the seismic waves resulting from it spread out in all directions for several miles, but the Hulk was also send flying right out of the cyclone. Thor sped after him, striking blow after blow, with the Hulk responding in kind. But Thor had the advantage of the winds pushing in his favor, and he used it wisely as he battled the Hulk midair, pushing them both back to where they started.

...right back towards the United Nations

It was time that he finished this. Doom had commanded him to destroy the Avengers. He was going to do it in one fell swoop this night.

* * *

***United Nations complex, Manhattan***

**8:57 PM EST June 16, 2012**

"DREW!"

"Foolish woman...Doom's will bows to no one."

With that, Doom flung Spider Woman's still convulsing and electrocuted body into the charging form of Iron Man. Stark was forced to stop and catch her, which gave Doom the chance to bum rush them both into the ground and strike them swiftly with electrical surges and metallic punches. Captain Marvel quickly retaliated with a vicious blast of photonic energy, but it proved futile as Doom willed a shield of debris to protect him. Grabbing an arrow aimed right at him inches from his face, Doom redirected it at a charging Captain America and Wolverine, both barely evading the arrow as it exploded.

Jess had come up with the idea to strike at Doom using her pheromone manipulation abilities. Breaking away from Carol and Barton, she had glided and weaved through the chaotic mess that was the battle between the Avengers and Victor von Doom. Doom had seen her coming, and reacted accordingly by sending a powerful blast of arc lightning electricity straight at her. Jess had barely managed to avoid it, Pym distracting Doom with a haymaker as she got even closer.

Just as the Latverian monarch had used Pym's body to block a series of repulsor and stinger blasts, and shielded himself from Cap's shield, Jess had struck. She had blasted Doom in the face with her venom blasts, momentarily blinding him, before grabbing him in a choke hold. She immediately unleashed her full abilities in pheromones. The British Avenger had called out to her teammates that she had Doom, that she had gotten him under her influence and control, her manipulation. Jess was certain beyond reason that she had finally succeeded in bringing down Victor von Doom.

To her horror, Doom had instead simply turned to look at her with the same cold, merciless and unrelenting expression that was his. That was what had led to her being grabbed within his choking grasp, electrocuted and blasted for her insolence.

"Crap, even Jessica's pheromones have no effect on Doom!" Mockingbird exclaimed as she and Hawkeye dodged another round of electrical blasts.

"I always did wonder if she could bring him down if she tried," Barton offered.

"Well, there goes the experiment of the day! Now what do we do?!" Yellowjacket called out as he managed to land an enlarged haymaker on Doom. The unfortunate part was that Doom's shieldings had managed to catch it first.

"Keep hittin' him, that's what!" Logan roared as he came in for another strike with his claws, only to be blasted with a surge of electricity, again rendering him unconscious momentarily. Mockingbird had the unfortunate luck of having been going behind him, and was caught under the taller mutant's weight as they both collapsed.

Captain America was frustrated to say, the least. He was a leader, first and foremost. He had led armies back in World War II, and he had led the Howling Commandos with Bucky and Logan and Jack Fury. He had led the Invaders against the Axis and their own superhuman weapons. He was second in command to Quake of the SHIELD Secret Warriors. And yet, he couldn't get the Avengers working into one fighting unit. He had started off well in the initial engagement, but everything had gone downhill once Hulk had to engage a mind controlled Thor and he had to get Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to safety. In those moments, the Avengers had relapsed into their own individual styles of fighting and combat. At least in the military, soldiers all conformed into one unit, but this was different all together.

Victor von Doom, meanwhile, looked at the battle before him and had to say that everything had come around quite nicely. However, even with the immense well of patience that Doom could have, it was starting to wear thin. He had come here to America, to the United Nations, to prove a point, and now that he had proven it, the continuation of this means was no longer necessary. He had met most of the Avengers' strikes and attacks. He had also found that several of them were possible potential threats. These self-proclaimed mightiest heroes of Earth could possibly one day be a threat to Doom.

But they were not so tonight.

"This has become tedious, repetitive," Doom mused as he blocked an energy blast from Captain Marvel. He then turned and shot a blast of electricity at Quicksilver, who had to dodge and cancel out the vortex of punches he had meant to unleash. "I grow tired of this."

"Oh yeah, because we're going to let you have a five minute break right now," Stark retorted as he fired a rapid barrage of repulsors. Doom easily sidestepped them and shot Iron Man with another arcane blast.

"I don't think you understand, Stark," Doom replied as his gauntlets began pulsating with green arcane energy. He muttered a few words of an ancient language, which resulted in his whole body becoming consumed in the same energy. "I...grow...tired of this."

And instantly, the villain unleashed the massive surge of vicious arcane energy, shooting out in all directions. The Avengers, who had been coming right at Doom for one massive attack, yelled out in immense pain as they were struck by the magical attack. Their weapons dropped as they convulsed and shuddered and shook in their pain and agony. Screams and yells of extremely excruciating pain rang out as Doom unleashed his full torment upon them. With them all considerably exhausted having been in constant and intense battle with Doom, this served to only make matter that much worse for them.

After what felt like hours of excruciating pain and torment, Doom's arcanic surge subsided, its course run on the Avengers. The heroes collapsed onto the ripped up grounds of the United Nations, all in immense pain and drained of much of their energy. They still stirred, albeit with pain, and their groans were evidence that they were still conscious; however, it wasn't of much comfort to many of the Avengers. Some tried to stand, but it was no easy task.

"Truly...pathetic," Doom said as he gazed upon each of the fallen Avengers. "Your effort is somewhat admirable, but sorely lacking."

"Don't... Don't count...out...yet," came the voice of Captain America. The Super Soldier was struggling to stand, using his shield as a support. "As long...as we have...breath...we won't...give up."

"You would be wiser to remain on your knees, Captain," Doom replied as he allowed power to pulsate in his gauntlet. "There is no use in continuing to fight. Doom has already defeated you."

"Don't bet on it, Doom," Stark hoarsely added, cringing and wincing. The Heartbreaker armor was damaged in several places, a few pieces torn off and sparks crackling here and there. The ARC Reactor was blinking in low intensity, signaling the damage that the suit had taken. JARVIS was hastily working the self-repair system.

"Stark, Stark...you were all already defeated from the moment you all responded to T'Challa's distress call."

It was the Wakandan Avenger's turn to glare at Doom. "What do you speak of now?"

Doom chuckled darkly, his eyes holding that malicious glint in them. "You really do not see it, do you? Look at yourselves, Wakandan, Avengers. Is this really the best that the Earth's 'Mightiest' Heroes can give me? You amuse me. You have all garnered considerable reputations as...heroes, as the world has taken to call you. And yet, it is as individuals that you have all fallen before Doom. Ironic."

"The hell ya talkin' about, ya stupid tin head?" Logan growled as he got back up. "We're all right here, aren't we?"

"No, Logan," Cap replied, glaring non-stop at the monarch. "He's talking about our individuality as heroes. The Pyms as a duo, us SHIELD agents as a single unit, Tony and you and T'Challa as loners...he exploited our individuality. He tore us by driving us back into our own comfort zones. Our Fastball, hitting Stark while trying to hit him, all because he made us forget the team and resort to our individual tactics. Divide and conquer."

"A simple and yet time tested strategy throughout millennia. You provided the divide, and I simply put in the conquering. Pathetically easy; you have only become a team in the last couple of weeks, and you just seemed to think that saying you are a team makes you one. And yet in this entire bout of ours, you failed to take into any consideration what a team entails. I turned you against each other. I sowed chaos within your ranks. I rekindled personal attributes within you. I took everything that made you somewhat formidable adversaries as individuals, as pairs or as soldiers and agents...and used it against you all. You resorted to familiar tactics, and it cost you dearly on multiple instances, as to your teammates. It was Doom who showed you the true colors of your insignificant union. You are no team...and Doom has showed the world the truth."

"You did all this..." Wasp panted as she struggled to stand, "...just to prove a point?"

"Not only that, Jan," Carol added, wincing in pain. "He did it to demonstrate his power. To show off."

"Correct, Captain," Doom replied. "Our battle has been broadcasted across the entirety of the planet. From Europe to the smallest islands of the Pacific, the world has witnessed their new self-proclaimed protectors, their champions...fall against the superiority that is Doom. You claim to be the mightiest heroes of the Earth, when you cannot even properly work as a functioning team. As Doom is your better, the outcome of our battle is of no surprise, of course. But did you truly believe that with how you all operate, with how independent you all, how close minded and reluctant you are to work with those unfamiliar...you really call this union of yours a team? You think that you could face Doom in battle and succeed with this pathetic little coalition?"

The Avengers could find no way to respond, not even Captain America.

The sudden impact of two colossal and powerful entities slamming into the ground between them shook their attention. Within the newly created large crater, a series of powerful and shockwave inducing punches rang out, followed by a monstrous roar. The thick dust and smoke that obscured the crater was dissipated by a heavy impact that shook the ground, revealing the bruised, burned and bleeding form of the Incredible Hulk.

"Well," Doom mused with a chuckle as he took in the scene before him. "It appears that you all have rather...pressing issues to deal with in terms of teamwork. I am certain I have made my point well enough. Doom now leaves you all to...clean up your mess." With that, Doom began chanting before he was engulfed with a surge of arcane energy, and he vanished before their eyes with an echoing bang of magic.

The Avengers were momentarily caught off guard, their eyes trained on the spot where Doom had just been standing.

"Dammit, he teleported," Stark said finally in exasperation, his armor's scanners quickly going to work. "He's gone; I'm not picking any of his signatures or energy readings anywhere within the city limits."

"We got bigger problems right now, Stark," Logan called out as he snapped his arm back into place, his claws popping back out. Hawkeye stood by him, his last three arrows at the ready.

"Really big problems," Hulk snarled as he clenched his fists, backing away from the crater he had formed, his eyes trained on one figure. All eyes quickly turned away and followed his gaze. If any of them had felt a small form of respite in the fact that Doom had… 'retreated,' then that small feeling was quickly replaced by renewed fear and uncertainty.

The skies rumbled and flashed with thunder and lightning as Thor slowly got back up from the same crater that he had created. His armor was badly chipped, his helmet was dented in several places with a wing broken, his gloves were ripped and his cape was in tatters. There were also several bruises on his face. Nonetheless, the power that the Asgardian exuded could still be felt, and the tinges of green had still not left his eyes. In his hand was the mystical weapon Mjolnir, crackling with energy and glowing a vibrant light blue.

The Asgardian Avenger then stood up at full regal height and glared at them all, and cracked his neck. The heavens danced in tune to the action.

"Oh, sugar honey iced tea," Steve muttered as he gripped his shield tighter, Pietro slowly backing up next to him.

"You fear me, Avengers?" Thor rumbled with a vicious smirk. "You are right in doing so."

"Hulk, I thought you were taking care of him on Roosevelt Island," Jan said with uncertainty as she shrunk down, her fists glowing with power.

"I was. Then Ross showed up."

"HulkBusters Ross?" Carol exclaimed as she took a defensive stand.

"Know any other? He tried to take me down again...and Thor tried to kill them all. I had to stop Goldilocks, and managed to make Ross and his soldiers run away. Then Goldilocks sent us both flying back here."

The Avengers found themselves with quite the dilemma in their hands. They had a new dangerous opponent right in front of them, and now had to figure out what to do. The obvious reaction was to fight, and hope that they could somehow snap Thor out of the mind control Doom had him under. But even from just looking at each other, they could tell that they couldn't handle another fight of this magnitude. Their battle with Doom had taken a toll on them all, and his spell had done quite a number on them. They were exhausted, injured and their energy was spent, and they were low in ranks. Only the Hulk was in any condition to again engage with the Asgardian.

Nonetheless, they readied themselves for the coming fight that was certain to take place. They were very exhausted, but they were heroes. They wouldn't back down from a fight, from protecting the innocents. They would stand until the end.

Even if the end was right in front of them.

"Now, mortals," Thor boomed as he began to advance menacingly, Mjolnir twirling in his gloved hand. The Avengers braced themselves for what was to come. "Prepare to greet oblivion in Hel, as I smite you and deliver thy-!"

The Asgardian never finished as he was suddenly struck by a large pink blast of energy. Thor immediately began roaring in pain as the energy enveloped and consumed him, bringing him to his knees. Mjolnir landed on the ground with a heavy thud, his hands flying up to his head and chest. His eyes began glowing a mixture of blue and pink with a small touch of green that was slowly dissipating.

The heroes turned with shock to see a semi-conscious Scarlet Witch leaning on Nick Fury, her arm outstretched as she unleashed a massive blast of hex magic energy. Her eyes were glowing a vibrant pink, but the strain that she was going through was clearly evident by the stressed and pained look on her face. Sweat was beading down her brow and face in droves, and her teeth were clenched, and she seemed half ready to fall over.

After a minute, Wanda finally stopped her hex assault, the energies consuming Thor quickly vanishing. Thor gasped loudly, falling onto all fours, panting heavily. He looked just about ready to pass out. Wanda was in no better shaped, breathing heavily as her own hand collapsed to her side.

"Got...got him," Wanda groaned heavily before collapsing again into Fury, the Director catching her before she fell on the ground. She had fallen into unconsciousness once again.

Before anyone, namely Pietro, could react and rush to the Scarlet Avenger, they turned to the sound of a heavy groan. Thor was slowly getting back to his feet, shaking his head to stop the wave of dizziness, pain and sickness. He could feel that he had been struck by magical needs, at least once. His vision a bit blurry, he could just make out the Hulk standing closest to him.

"Hulk?" Thor muttered groggily, his head in his hand. Turning to the titan, he added, "Hulk, what has just tra-?"

**KAPOW!**

"...Nothing personal, Goldilocks," the Incredible Avenger grunted as he looked down at Thor, the Thunder God having just been punched right in the face by him. Thor landed on all fours, groaning in confusion and pain. Had it not been for those factors, he would've struck back at the Hulk with no hesitation.

"Wanda!"

Pietro was at Wanda's side in the literal blink of an eye. He gently took her from Fury, cradling her limp form and thankful that she was still breathing. He glanced up at Fury, who gave a curt nod before walking off to approach the other Avengers.

"Fury," Steve said as he approached them

Fury sighed bitterly. "We have a number of diplomats and representatives from various nations MIA, Latverian soldiers having kidnapped them during your fight with Doom. We have a large number of casualties from fighting Doom's soldiers and Doombots, with police and soldiers and delegates injured and even some dead. We have a few something million in damages. Hill's reporting in that Roosevelt Island's park is a mess, and a few residences are trashed because Thor engaged the HulkBusters Corps. That's Ross' fault, of course, but then there's the bigger issue. The news networks are blowing up the Thor and Hulk fight, with Banner getting spit on even more...and Thor being accused of being some kind of supervillain after thrashing around American soldiers. The public perception on the two of them, no so good right now, worse for Banner."

"You're kidding me," Stark sighed.

"No, I'm not. Boys and girls, this fight made a mess of things...a really big mess. The Council is going to be on my ass because of this...and because of you Avengers."

"Because of us? What-?"

"Doom did this because of you, Stark. Because you Avengers challenged him. The whole world saw that, heard him say it. It's being played across the world as we speak. And he ripped you guys apart. He played you and made a strike at the UN while doing it. He made Thor and Hulk fight each other, destroying a small part of Roosevelt Island while doing so. Doom's goal was to make the public, the entire world, turn against you while both beating you and dividing you. And he did a damn good job. The UN will be against you even more, the Council will want SHIELD to do something about you, and then the American public's reaction to Thor and his fight with the HulkBusters, not to mention the government...Doom won here, Avengers, in more ways than one."

Captain America and Iron Man found themselves unable to reply, words escaping them. Fury took that as his cue to leave, not bothering to spare a glance at any of the other heroes, not even his other Warriors.

What could they say, after all, when they knew that Fury was right?

All the Avengers could do was watch with a mixture of shock, anger, shame and humiliation as SHIELD agents, police and city paramedics swarmed the scene. Various news cameras and reporters were trying to get their attention, shouting questions at them from the barricades the police had set up, broadcasting everything to the world. They all fell on deaf ears.

The Avengers had been soundly beaten by Victor von Doom.

A sound of something sticky hitting the pavement caught their attention. They turned to see the black suited form of the Amazing Spider-Man landing, finally arriving on scene. Peter couldn't take his eyes off of all the destruction before him. He had been confident that his teammates would've handled this fine until he arrived. It was a different story, one that pushed him into a rare silence.

"...Oh, my God," he said quietly as he turned to the other Avengers. "What happened?"

The looks that more than a few of his teammates had on their faces alerted him that he was probably in a bit of trouble...

* * *

_**XXXXX-A/N-XXXXX**_

_**Wow...that was a long one...**_

_**This chapter was originally going to be longer to include a bit of scenes with the Avengers licking their wounds back at the Mansion and breaking apart even more. I decided to save that for next time.**_

_**The Hulkbusters of this continuity are the United States Hulkbuster Corps, the sixth branch of the American military. They're based off the Avengers: EMH versions. This includes their massive Stryker Command Vehicle, the tanks, the soldier armor and the choppers seen in the show. Wild Bill, the chopper pilot, is also here as well. Their tech is made by Hammer Industries.**_

_**God, this was a long chapter, longest yet in the series, with roadblocks and inconsistencies everywhere. Hopefully, this was all to your satisfaction. Please, leave some reviews and critique, and remember to reread every chapter before this one. Changes have been made in many places.**_

_**Alright, time for some advertising! Yes, you read that right! So, fellow writer Harlequin K has published his own Avengers Fic, entitled "Earth's Mightiest Heroes: Assemble," and despite similar names, his own story is quite unique. Why? Well, that would ruin the surprise, now wouldn't it? Seriously, go check it out, it's pretty cool. I've talked with Harlequin and he's got some great ideas for the story's future. Give him some love :D**_

_**Alright, next up, we see just how bad the Avengers are breaking apart and where they can go from here. Until next time, readers.**_


	14. News Notice

_**OK, everyone, here's some news. Whether they're good or bad, it depends on how you all look at it *shrugs***_

_**I've decided to do a serious rewrite of 919: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. This comes after a lot of thinking and consideration. I constantly reread my work, and this story was a particular interest of mine. As I've constantly made tweaks and edits here and there, rewritten bits now and again, and all that good stuff, I see there are things that just don't fly even by comic standards. I've also grown as a writer, so I see that I can do a lot better.**_

_**The perks of being a Literature/English major...You see errors in everything you wrote before...**_

_**Not only that, I've found I've kind of written myself into a corner with the current arc.**_

_**So, I'm starting from scratch again. Now, just to make this clear, the founding roster will not change. The 17 original Avengers remain the same (see my Profile), and the basic plotlines of "Assemble" and "Teamwork for Dummies" are the same as well. There are some changes, however, so bear that in mind.**_

_**Well, now that that's out of the way, go check out the new and improved "919: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (Version II)." It's been uploaded, same time as this story. Same title and everything. This one will eventually be taken down.**_


	15. Another News Update Concerning The Story

**Hello, everyone. Reborn Dark Phoenix here (as if you were expecting anyone else, really?). This random and out of the blue update comes from a conclusion I've reached and a decision I've made.**

**As you all know (I assume you do, at least), this story was intended as a rewrite of the original "919: Earth's Mightiest Heroes." This was because I felt I could do better with the story if I started over. I liked what I had written thus far, but I wanted to change things to impact later arcs, add more detail and the like. While I had done some retcons in several of the chapters, I chose to just start from scratch all over again. My other main reason was because I believed that there were just some things I wrote out that just didn't fly well even in comic standards. I also felt I had written myself into a wall with how I handled Doom facing the Avengers and such. So I decided (maybe badly, but that's neither here nor there) to just go back to the drawing board and make a clean slate.**

**And that was how Version II came about.**

**And it didn't go as I thought it would.**

**Most know I mostly stuck to the same plot for "Assemble!" with some changes there and here. The villains remained the same: Loki, the Enchantress, Executioner, the army of Jotun Frost Giants and the creation of the Wrecking Crew of this continuity. Almost immediately, one of my readers advised me of how this could backfire. We discussed and exchanged opinions and views, and I carried on with my business.**

**Writing the rewritten Chapter 7, though, showed me how much I've been pushing the limits of my writing out of the characters, and it's led me to a dead end. One I just can't get over or around. In the original chapter, Wanda just did a "No More *insert whatever here*", and that got rid of the Frost Giants. I didn't like that I did that and resolved to do something different here. Unfortunately, I just can't come up with a comic-realistic and believable reason to have the heroes win. ****And looking back, what I wrote my plot to be really didn't help: the army of the Frost Giants being in the thousands, running all over the place and whatnot. That definitely didn't help. I had tried to form a way to have Thor and Wanda work together to have the Jotun forced back to Jotunheim, with the rest of the heroes holding the Giants off, but I had too many of them to fight off.**

**The Wrecking Crew: having Asgardian level supervillains running around on top of the Rogue Asgardians? It didn't help in the slightest in the scenario I was trying to write out; how could the heroes fend off the Jotun dealing with the Crew at the same time? Yeah, like a good friend on the site told me, I shot myself in the foot there (or hand lol).**

**I also saw how exaggerated I portrayed the characters' actions waaaaay too much. Seriously, looking back, half of the non-empowered heroes should've been dead by this point, honestly. The numbers they were facing, and a bunch of other stuff...yep, I had no idea what I was thinking. And the plot itself was more than somewhat exaggerated.**

**And this wasn't just in the rewrite, but in the original, too. It wasn't one of the original reasons for the rewrite, but looking back I see that this was a major issue with what I wrote and the plot I was going with.**

**Basically, I jumped into this not really knowing where I was going. ****Thanks goes to SnarkyBacterium for helping me recognize I had messed up along the way.**

**So, all in all, the rewrite wasn't a success and I'm shutting it down.**

**Now, let me be clear, this doesn't mean "919: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" is a lost cause of mine.**

**No. It is just now on hiatus until I figure out where I really want to go with this story. I've put a lot of effort into 919, too much to abandon it. If I'm going to do better, I have to make sure I'm going to do better and plan this out right.**

**Now, here's the reason I posted the new version as a whole new story: ****I honestly never thought to just post the new first chapter on the original story and delete all the chapters before it, thus restarting from there. **** I honestly never thought that I could just do that. I know, a massive fail on my part. But now I know; why is this relevant? I will be re-uploading the future new rewrite here on the original story. So keep your eyes on this story in the future, because the new story will be on here.**

**Now, on another note. By the time this is uploaded, I'll have posted a poll on my profile page. I really want to hear your opinions, so I urge you to place your votes. I'm considering a new motive for the Avengers to assemble, although I am also wondering if I should stick to using Loki. There are several options I have to chose from, and I want to know what you all would like to see. I already have an idea for two of them, but there are a few choices I want to explore. So, I'd like you all to check out the poll and vote on it, see what could be a great way for the Avengers to assemble. Check it out!**

**In regards to the roster itself...I may change some of the original roster, or not. Still thinking about it.**

**That's all for now. ****Until next time, readers, I ask you all to check out my other stories.**

**RPD**


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